Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: brianw on November 28, 2014, 07:39:51 PM
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On BBC 2 this evening in "The home that Two Built" they showed some talking heads of past presenters, including a woman whose voice I recognised, and the face maybe. Anyone old enough to know who it was? In the Geoff Hamilton bit.
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It was Gay Search - looking almost unrecognisable now. She was (is?) a journalist who appeared for a while on gardening programmes at one time. Wrote some books on gardening/design too, I think. I always regarded the poor woman as a dillettante :-\
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Hi Maggi I had to look up dilettante as I did know what it ment, made me smile, I remember her as well. What about pippa greenwood and Anne swithinbank, you never here from them any more.
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Pippa and Anne are still appearing regularly on Gardeners' Question Time on the radio.
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Would that be radio 3/4?, what about the bloke with the ponytail? Bob something or other?
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It was Gay Search - looking almost unrecognisable now. She was (is?) a journalist who appeared for a while on gardening programmes
I hadn't heard f her so had to look her up.....
Hmmmm, she's the fifth entry when you google her name! ;D
cheers
fermi
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Bob something or other?
How could any gardener forget the name "Flowerdew"? He's a regular on GQT which is broadcast on Radio 4. Catch up here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qp2f (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qp2f)
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Hi Alan it's been a long time since he was on tv, but I could still see him in my minds eye, I knew he was bob something :)
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Sarah Raven?
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How could any gardener forget the name "Flowerdew"? He's a regular on GQT which is broadcast on Radio 4. Catch up here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qp2f (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qp2f)
Yes I remember now, he started the craze over here of "leeking" on compost heaps. He will not be forgiven.
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John that is a common British tradition ;), but like using Cheshunt Compound for combating damping off it could well be legislated against. Bob Flowerdew and GQT is quite a breath of fresh air for serious long term gardeners.
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John that is a common British tradition ;), but like using Cheshunt Compound for combating damping off it could well be legislated against. Bob Flowerdew and GQT is quite a breath of fresh air for serious long term gardeners.
I think I have an old tin of chehunt in the cabinet. Would it still be good? BF was a real hands on gardener back in those days & always enjoyed him. Off topic, way back in the 60's I eagerly awaited a weekly mag called Practical Gardening, small pix and very short articles but introduced us to tempting new plants, it pretty much started us off in this once remote hinterland.
johnw
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All these gardeners are good, but Geoff Hamilton leaves them all standing.
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Thank you Maggie.
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Geoff. Hamilton was great. Not forgetting Geoffrey Smith, an enthusiast for wild plants as well. Bill Sowerbutts, Percy Thrower, also the bloke with the tweed jacket and brogues who promoted peat and never got his hands dirty ???
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also the bloke with the tweed jacket and brogues who promoted peat and never got his hands dirty ???
That would be Peter Seabrook - tho' Bob Flowerdew is pro-peat too to a degree!
There's also Stefan Bukzacki - but he was only on G/World briefly , or occasionally, I think.
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I remember Geoffrey smith Ian, but not the others. I see nobody has mentioned Alan titchmarsh, have I spelt his last name right? He wasn't too bad.
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Peter seabrook? Is he the guy who has the gardening section in the sun every Saturday?
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There was another early GW woman gardener/presenter in the Christine Walkden programme today on Waterperry (repeat). Forget her name although it was mentioned on the programme, Mary something. She was the first woman on GW.
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Peter seabrook? Is he the guy who has the gardening section in the sun every Saturday?
Yes, according to Wikipedia - and I found a wikipedia page that gives this list :
Lead presenters have included:
Ken Burras (1968 – 1969) [
Percy Thrower (1969 – 1976)
Arthur Billitt (1976 – 1979)
Geoff Hamilton (1979 – 1996)
Alan Titchmarsh (1996 – 2002)
Monty Don (2003 – 2008)
Toby Buckland (2008 – 2010)
Monty Don (2011 –)
Assistants
The presenter's assistants have included: Alys Fowler, Chris Baines, Chris Beardshaw, Mary Spiller, Liz Rigby, Diarmuid Gavin, Clay Jones, Stefan Buczacki, Christine Walkden, Sarah Raven, Gay Search, Anne Swithinbank, Nigel Colborn, Geoffrey Smith, Roy Lancaster, Peter Seabrook, Joe Swift, Ali Ward, Pippa Greenwood, Rachel De Thame, Carol Klein, Bob Flowerdew, and John Kelly.
So I guess that Mary Spiller is the one Brian mentions?
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Yes Mary Spiller. Somehow they did nearly the whole programme on Waterperry without mentioning the National collection of Saxifages or Valerie Finnis.
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Maggi
Mr Wikipedia has forgotten to include Stephen Lacey who undertook garden visits for Gardeners' World and gave us some wonderfully inspiring essays on plants and designs. I used to look forward - whereas I now skip any offering from Joe Swift.
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Maggi
Mr Wikipedia has forgotten to include Stephen Lacey.......
I suggest you contact Mr W. to let him know.......
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Yes, according to Wikipedia - and I found a wikipedia page that gives this list :
Lead presenters have included:
Ken Burras (1968 – 1969) [
Percy Thrower (1969 – 1976)
Arthur Billitt (1976 – 1979)
Geoff Hamilton (1979 – 1996)
Alan Titchmarsh (1996 – 2002)
Monty Don (2003 – 2008)
Toby Buckland (2008 – 2010)
Monty Don (2011 –)
Assistants
The presenter's assistants have included: Alys Fowler, Chris Baines, Chris Beardshaw, Mary Spiller, Liz Rigby, Diarmuid Gavin, Clay Jones, Stefan Buczacki, Christine Walkden, Sarah Raven, Gay Search, Anne Swithinbank, Nigel Colborn, Geoffrey Smith, Roy Lancaster, Peter Seabrook, Joe Swift, Ali Ward, Pippa Greenwood, Rachel De Thame, Carol Klein, Bob Flowerdew, and John Kelly.
So I guess that Mary Spiller is the one Brian mentions?
Happy with everyone apart from Monty Don - we just watch Beechgrove now - GW with Monty Don at the helm cured my insomnia
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I have to admit Graeme I'm not a monty Don fan, I would have preferred Carole Klein in charge.
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I don't have a problem with Monty Don. I think the UK should be glad to have a decent gardening program. Come on over to the Continent and discover that many West European countries don't even have a good gardening program.
Gardener's World has a format that is directed at the general gardening public. You can't expect GW to pay attention to difficult to grow Fritallarias or the germination requirements for 20 woody species. That is not what GW is about. GW is not about specialist information. If you want a good idea of what the general gardening public is you should go and work in a gardening center (not a specialist nursery!). I immediately admit that the GW format has its limits for people who have a more than average interest in horticulture. But for those people we have the internet with its many gardening fora and page after page of specialist information.
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I think that's right but it doesn't mean there couldn't also be gardening/plant-based programmes directed at a more 'sophisticated' audience (there is literary, musical and historical programming after all, as well as a lot of natural history). One reason this would be helpful is that there aren't too many knowledgeable horticulturists that one can find to work in a specialist nursery and garden. Would this create a problem or challenge for programme makers? I don't know - we do have different TV and Radio channels that cater to different people so the 'infrastructure' is there. There is a lot more scope even than is found on an excellent Forum like this, particularly going into the wild and discovering plants and landscapes.
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It is the immediacy of this forum and the capacity for interaction here that has provided, for me, some of the most exciting times here. I am thinking of Stellan's reports, mostly under the title of "The Travel Giraffe" sent on the very day, of the landscapes and plants he discovered- while travelling the country on his bicycle,on trips of some 27000 km ! It would take some doing for any TV programme to even equal that, let alone better it. Then there are the reports from our expert members in the mountains of Europe, or extraordinary places like Socotra. The reports from unrivalled reporters like Rafa and Oron or the tales of both travel, cultivation and plant description form Janis - and these are just to mention a few of the direct reports we have enjoyed from so many members in so many places - mercy! What have we not got here to be grateful for ? And then there is the endless sharing of not only experience but of plants and seed - GardenPrince is correct - we have a GREAT DEAL to be grateful for, right here!
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It is the immediacy of this forum and the capacity for interaction here that has provided, for me, some of the most exciting times here. I am thinking of Stellan's reports, mostly under the title of "The Travel Giraffe" sent on the very day, of the landscapes and plants he discovered- while travelling the country on his bicycle,on trips of some 27000 km ! It would take some doing for any TV programme to even equal that, let alone better it. Then there are the reports from our expert members in the mountains of Europe, or extraordinary places like Socotra. The reports from unrivalled reporters like Rafa and Oron or the tales of both travel, cultivation and plant description form Janis - and these are just to mention a few of the direct reports we have enjoyed from so many members in so many places - mercy! What have we not got here to be grateful for ? And then there is the endless sharing of not only experience but of plants and seed - GardenPrince is correct - we have a GREAT DEAL to be grateful for, right here!
This is what makes the SRGC, in my mind the best gardening club in the world. I have on occasion dipped into the discussion forums of other societies and none of them have the depth and breadth of content offered in such a friendly and generous manner as it is here. It would be great to see better TV programming catering for our interests and spreading the word more widely, but with or without it this Forum is a daily pleasure and I'm glad to be part of this family.
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No arguement at all with that Maggi - but there is the prospect of attracting many more gardeners to this vision of plants if TV was also more imaginative. I remember especially a wonderful series (in a very different context) called 'Earth Story' presented by Prof. Aubrey Manning, who has also written a forward to the book 'The Carrifran Wildwood Story: Ecological Restoration from the Grass Roots' by Myrtle Ashmole and Philip Ashmole. How do you impress the greatest number of people with a story like that? I think TV does have potential here, and the result would also benefit the Specialist Plant Societies and this thoroughly outstanding Forum.
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I thought this gave an interesting, although slightly depressing, perspective on how a certain type of 'gardening' programme gets made: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/9465064/My-garden-on-TV-Never-again-Alan-Titchmarsh.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/9465064/My-garden-on-TV-Never-again-Alan-Titchmarsh.html)
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Perhaps I'm wrong :(
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Living in Tasmania we have never been able to view these programs, but I did buy & enjoy the magazine here for many years until the arrival of Monty Don, when ego & celebrity seemed to overtake plants as a focus. Australian programs similarly fail to inspire - All lifestyle & very few plants of any interest.
What i would really like to see would be an international television series based solely on plants. Something along the lines of David Attenborough's very successful works, but solely, objectively about plants. This could be a joint effort between national networks in UK, Europe, USA, Australia, NZ, China and anywhere else.
i woukl suggest 2 streams (or 2 shows). One on plants in the wild, the other on plant breeding developments of consequence (not just another shade of petunia).
Yes it would be expensive to make, I'm sure Attenborough's budget is not small. But well syndicated & marketed, it would soon attract the greatest audience of all time.
Why not!
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What i would really like to see would be an international television series based solely on plants. Something along the lines of David Attenborough's very successful works, but solely, objectively about plants. This could be a joint effort between national networks in UK, Europe, USA, Australia, NZ, China and anywhere else.
i woukl suggest 2 streams (or 2 shows). One on plants in the wild, the other on plant breeding developments of consequence (not just another shade of petunia).
Yes it would be expensive to make, I'm sure Attenborough's budget is not small. But well syndicated & marketed, it would soon attract the greatest audience of all time.
Why not!
Neil - actually, the BBC Natural History Unit and Attenborough did make a series called "The Private Life of Plants" about 10 years ago. Perhaps not covering everything you suggest but excellent nonetheless. http://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Attenborough-Private-Life-Plants/dp/B0000AISJC (http://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Attenborough-Private-Life-Plants/dp/B0000AISJC)
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I have tried to see if other members were interested in our native alpines through a previous blog. The response was poor. I have also tried to interest the BBC springwatch and autumnwatch programme makers in native plants without success. It seems that plants to most people are only interesting if they are in/come from far away places?
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I have tried to see if other members were interested in our native alpines through a previous blog. The response was poor. I have also tried to interest the BBC springwatch and autumnwatch programme makers in native plants without success. It seems that plants to most people are only interesting if they are in/come from far away places?
It's even harder to get a decent programme on fungi unless it's associated with gastronomy.
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Ian - I could imagine programming that is something like a cross between Julia Bradbury exploring the Lake District (and Wainwright's knowledge of the landscape) and Geoffrey Smith's knowledge of plants and gardening. I think probably most of the readers here (and in the 'other place') are most interested in plants from far away ;), but there could be great scope to go to places like The Burren, Ben Lawers and Chalk Downlands looking in more detail at plants and the environment. Given the right, and imaginative presentation (which results from suitable collaboration between people) these could be as exciting as any other Natural History programmes, but it would take quite a change in vision from the media to go this way. Probably a little more 'Ray Mears' and less 'Bear Grylls'.
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Not sure if these two were on GW way back when I first got in to plants. Two men featured every week. Old man with white hair and moustache and a younger man with dark hair and glasses. The latter is now or was information desk man at John Massey's Ashwood garden centre
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Not sure if these two were on GW way back when I first got in to plants. Two men featured every week. Old man with white hair and moustache and a younger man with dark hair and glasses. The latter is now or was information desk man at John Massey's Ashwood garden centre
that wasn't Gardners World it was Garden Time - ITV's punt at a GW - and very good it was - although I was quite young at the time it was the first time I saw cyclamen coum - from what I remember it was Arthur Billett? and Howard Drury
I later bumped into Howard and his mother at the primula and auricula shows at Knowle - where his mum did the food and he showed plants. I know him to talk to and see him when we go to Ashwood
That programme probably inspired me more than GW and was much more hands on - and not so much veg growers weekly
http://www.thedrurys.com/index.php/2012-04-03-22-08-14/howard-drury (http://www.thedrurys.com/index.php/2012-04-03-22-08-14/howard-drury)
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I was at ashwood's the Saturday before last, nice garden centre, brought some nice plants home. I have thought of another tv gardener daphne leeward, you never see her on tv anymore, I can't remember if she was on gw or not.
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Oh yes, I remember Daphne - she's Daphne Ledward from Lincolnshire - she had lovely red hair - and got the sack after "a drunken tirade" - you can read the gory details online www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1181619/BBC-gardening-expert-sacked-drunken-abuse-radio-roadshow.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1181619/BBC-gardening-expert-sacked-drunken-abuse-radio-roadshow.html)
http://www.daphneledward.com/appear.shtml- (http://www.daphneledward.com/appear.shtml-) her history from her website
She's still around - http://blog.spaldingbulb.co.uk/at-home-with-daphne-ledward/ (http://blog.spaldingbulb.co.uk/at-home-with-daphne-ledward/) this is from Sept. this year.
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I nearly got her name right :), no wonder she's teetotal if that's what happens when she's had a few poor woman. I know surfleet, not far from me. Didn't she do a show a few years back where she and her husband traveled around the country looking at people's sick plants?
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Mark, was the "old man with white hair and moustache" Alan Bloom? Sometimes his son Adrian was on as well.
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I remember Alan Bloom with long white hair- but not a moustache :-\ but Adrian also had white hair- and a "mouser"....... :D
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Reviving this thread with a note about the programme Gardeners' World ..... by Matthew Appleby, taken from Hort Week online
http://www.hortweek.com/bbc-search-new-gardeners-world-presenter/retail/article/1379056?bulletin=breakfast-briefing&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=eNews%20Bulletin&utm_source=20160113&utm_content= (http://www.hortweek.com/bbc-search-new-gardeners-world-presenter/retail/article/1379056?bulletin=breakfast-briefing&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=eNews%20Bulletin&utm_source=20160113&utm_content=)
BBC in search for new Gardener's World presenter
12 January 2016, by Matthew Appleby
"The BBC has sent an advert to Garden Media Guild members looking for a new presenter for its flagship gardening show.
The presenter is in addition to current presenters Monty Don, Carol Klein, Joe Swift and Rachel de Thame.
The show has been running since 1968. Don has been lead presenter since 2011.
The BBC has yet to announce its 2016 schedule, saying that will be revealed in the second or third week in January.
Klein said last year that the BBC did not give presenters word that they would be working on the show, which usually starts in late February and runs until November, until the New Year.
The advert states: "BBC Bristol are currently looking for potential presenters for a new series of Gardeners’ World. Previous television experience is desirable but not essential, as long as you are an enthusiastic and passionate communicator about plants and gardening. Contact Helen Cawley, email:helen.cawley@bbc.co.uk or tel: 0117 974 2309 or 07729 260633 before January 22nd."
The position is "additional" to the current presenters, who the BBC see as a "good solid team".
A BBC spokesperson said: "The note has just been put out to see who’s out there, that’s it."
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I very rarely watch Gardeners World, my wife and daughter sometimes watch it and there have been past occasions when one of them have excitedly called me from my computer to see one of the GW team do something magic with alpine plants - but I have always been disappointed.
Of all the thousands of programs over the years GW has just very briefly dipped their toes into the world of alpine plants.
Click on this link: How to Plant an Alpine Sand Box. (http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/video-projects/how-to-plant-an-alpine-sand-box/8.html)
From that link you can scroll down the page to the following:-
How to create a raised bed for alpines
How to plant alpines
How to plant alpines through gravel
How to plant ornamental alliums
Spring alpine pot display
Each video and the planting seems to be rushed and its always the trio — sedum, semps and sax which are used.
Is it any wonder that the majority of gardeners no little or nothing about alpine plants?
Edit by maggi to correct link to GW video
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I very rarely watch Gardeners World, my wife and daughter sometimes watch it and there have been past occasions when one of them have excitedly called me from my computer to see one of the GW team do something magic with alpine plants - but I have always been disappointed.
Of all the thousands of programs over the years GW has just very briefly dipped their toes into the world of alpine plants.
Click on this link: How to Plant an Alpine Sand Box. (http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/video-projects/how-to-plant-an-alpine-sand-box/8.html)
From that link you can scroll down the page to the following:-
How to create a raised bed for alpines
How to plant alpines
How to plant alpines through gravel
How to plant ornamental alliums
Spring alpine pot display
Each video and the planting seems to be rushed and its always the trio — sedum, semps and sax which are used.
Is it any wonder that the majority of gardeners no little or nothing about alpine plants?
Edit by maggi to correct link to GW video
If you have no interest in anything other than veg growers weekly and planting box on a boggy site, what do you expect. There is so much they could do but its the same rubbish every week with a bit of pond dipping. Helps me get to sleep on a friday night.
With so many people having little or no space you have a gardening programme from a large garden a lot of people would never be able to have - alpines and bulbs etc. are ideal for a small space - but as you say sedum, semps and sax - boring - boring - some are okay, but not the ones they show.
Just hope they get a new presenter in who actually has some idea - but I suspect you will get more of the same
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Perhaps someone such as Chris grey-wilson should be approached by the BBC instead of waiting to see who approaches the bbc?
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Perhaps someone such as Chris grey-wilson should be approached by the BBC instead of waiting to see who approaches the bbc?
Yes Ian, that is one way to go.
Another way, and one which makes me wonder why this hasn't already happened, is a group of SRG members, or members at the AGS Centre, Pershore. Setting up a workshop on various aspects of alpine plant culture. Constructing a rock garden, planting up a trough, crevice gardening, building a retaining wall and so on. All the knowledge and expertise is here!
The committee gets together and sends a letter to the BBC, decrying the abysmal attempts perpetrated by the so-called “experts” at the BBC. Offer to demonstrate how it should be done.
The BBC is surely aware of the SRGC and the AGS. If they shun the offer, try the other TV stations.
As an aside: (and hoping this is not out of place here)
Can anyone tell me who the raised wall belonged to?. . . I can’t remember!
I photographed it many years ago, possibly the mid1980s and it was a member of the Birmingham group AGS who opened their garden that day. The house was located on the Alvechurch Highway, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.
I think it is lovely. The photo is not very clear as it is taken from a 35mm slide. If the BBC “experts” could do something like that then they could say they have achieved something.