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Geoff
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Geoff was born on 15th August 1936, just a few minutes before his twin brother Tony, in Stepney, East London. When Geoff was two the family moved to Broxbourne in Hertfordshire right in the heart of the Lea Valley. Horticulture has always been an important part of life in Hertfordshire and Geoff began his climb to the top in the back garden of the family home when he was four. His passion for gardening strengthened and during the school holidays Geoff expanded his knowledge by helping out in local nurseries, mainly at the Van Hage nursery at the end of his road. All avenues led to Writtle Agricultural College in Essex where he passed with distinction, the National Diploma in Horticulture. His brother Tony also attended from 1957-1959, choosing agriculture. After the outrageous things they got up to, the principal was surely relieved when they were let loose into the unsuspecting world of work.
It was during this time that he began writing small pieces for Garden News and gradually looking towards the journalism. After what he considered to be a very poor interview he was offered his first television job presenting 'Gardening Diary' on Anglia Television. In 1975 he joined the Garden Newsteam. After two years he was asked to take over as editor of Practical Gardening magazine, where he began his crusade informing everybody about the joys and benefits of organic gardening. He had already moved into the house attached to the stable block on the Barnsdale Hall estate and had begun renting a couple of acres of land at the top of the hill. Once vacant Geoff very quickly moved in and rented the cottage next to this plot of land where most of the pictures for his articles in the magazine were taken. It was during this time that he was asked for a guest appearanceon Gardeners' World from what is now known as 'The Original Barnsdale'. It took rather a lot of beer & persuasion to convince John Kenyon,
the
Two
years later Gardeners' World was well established in its new home with
Geoff's natural and down to earth style making him a hit with the viewers.
He married his second wife Lyndaand the rest, I'm sure, all of you
have followed over the years.
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He
began on his own as a freelance landscape gardener, and a very good
one at that. The skills and techniques he learnt at college gave him
the platform to expand his knowledge and gain that all important experience
that was so energetically passed on to all of us later. During this
time he married and had three sons, Stephen, Nicholas & Christopher.
He moved everybody to Kettering, in Northamptonshire, in 1970 for a
new project, a Garden Centre. It was a completely run down building
on a plot of land and Geoff transformed it into a thriving business
where he promoted the plants more than the sundries - quite an unusual
thing for a garden centre, even then. This is where his love of plants
really came to the fore and it was a passion that would stay with him
for the rest of his life.
then producer of Gardeners'World, to give him a more regular spot
on the programme and in 1979 he joined the team. Filming from there
was very successful but Geoff found there wasn't enough room to experiment,
so he began to look for a suitable alternative. In 1984 he found it,
just one mile up the road a Victorian farmhouse with over 5 acres of
land, 'Barnsdale' was born! All but half an acre was pasture - he was
like a child with a
new toy! A local farmer was asked to plough most of it, and after planting
one or two mature trees and shrubs he couldn't bear to leave behind
he set about on the first project.