Our first reaction is that it was an interesting programme that we
enjoyed. BUT it was full of celeb irrelevancies. We are not interested
in where Monty Don lived when he was 19, what he looked like wearing a
berêt or what he used for transport. Nor did we care that he looked
like the wrath of dieu before he'd had a coffee or that he wanted to
sit in a Parisian streetside café, watching the world go by. ALL WASTED
TIME! But the gardening bits we did enjoy very much and we thought he
presented them really well. Giverny looks infinitely better planted
than it was 4 or 5 years ago and much more inviting and enticing. And
I'm afraid there's another BUT - but why don't they put the names of
the blasted gardens on the blasted screen? The one he visited in which
an American art dealer now lives absolutely fascinated me. I'd love to
see more of it but did we get the name? No, we did not. How
irritating! ça m'emmerde!! ;-)
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

I rather got the impression it wasn't open to the public, but I might be wrong.

"Sacha" wrote

Our first reaction is that it was an interesting programme that we enjoyed.
BUT it was full of celeb irrelevancies. We are not interested in where
Monty Don lived when he was 19, what he looked like wearing a berêt or what
he used for transport. Nor did we care that he looked like the wrath of
dieu before he'd had a coffee or that he wanted to sit in a Parisian
streetside café, watching the world go by. ALL WASTED TIME! But the
gardening bits we did enjoy very much and we thought he presented them
really well. Giverny looks infinitely better planted than it was 4 or 5
years ago and much more inviting and enticing. And I'm afraid there's
another BUT - but why don't they put the names of the blasted gardens on
the blasted screen? The one he visited in which an American art dealer now
lives absolutely fascinated me. I'd love to see more of it but did we get
the name? No, we did not. How irritating! ça m'emmerde!! ;-)

Well he didn't mention Latour -Marliac and indeed when to the water lily
pond both times when they are not at their best, makes you wonder!
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

several things

Ditto Sacha: an almost content-free programme; a great disappointment.
Except for the spectacular landscapes, colours, and the atmosphere of
_heat_ :-)

If they're gonna do a programme called "French Gardens", and use the
celeb who does "Gardener's World", why don't they use the same
production team, who would have supplied us with all the details we're
looking for (as subtitles, I mean).

I got the feeling this was produced by some effete member of the Beeb's
social elite -- possibly young and inexperienced, and certainly not
particularly interested in gardening. Couldn't make up its mind whether
it was about French gardens or about Monty Don, and fell between the two
stools. (Not that we want to know any more about Monty.)


I must add that I'm not a Beeb knocker: almost everything they do (and
they do an unimaginable amount: radio, TV, films, and the best website
in the world) is extremely good. So good, that we almost never notice.

OK: back to raking the bloody moss out of the lawn: bet they don't get
that problem in the Luberon!

John

On 16/02/2013 11:03, Granity wrote:
'Sacha[_10_ Wrote:
;978277']Our first reaction is that it was an interesting programme that
we
enjoyed. BUT it was full of celeb irrelevancies. We are not interested

in where Monty Don lived when he was 19, what he looked like wearing a
berêt or what he used for transport. Nor did we care that he looked
like the wrath of dieu before he'd had a coffee or that he wanted to
sit in a Parisian streetside café, watching the world go by. ALL WASTED

TIME! But the gardening bits we did enjoy very much and we thought he
presented them really well. Giverny looks infinitely better planted
than it was 4 or 5 years ago and much more inviting and enticing. And
I'm afraid there's another BUT - but why don't they put the names of
the blasted gardens on the blasted screen? The one he visited in which

an American art dealer now lives absolutely fascinated me. I'd love to
see more of it but did we get the name? No, we did not. How
irritating! ça m'emmerde!! ;-)
--

Sacha
'Buy plants online, including rare and popular plant varieties from Hill
House Nursery, mail order plant specialist'
(http://www.hillhousenursery.com)
South Devon
'Help for Heroes' (http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk)

I rather got the impression it wasn't open to the public, but I might be
wrong.


I remember many years ago C4 ran a series Gardens without borders, the
presenter had 6 or 7 viewers with him in a minibus and they toured
gardens around Europe, first class, no celeb involved.
Just gardens and gardeners comments.

In article lalaw44-46715F.13383816022013@surfnet-
nl.ipv4.ptr.145.109.x.invalid, says...

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

several things

Ditto Sacha: an almost content-free programme

Not to anyone interested in gardens, their design,
or the relationships betwen gardening, history and creative arts.

Janet

Did some research for you Sacha, it was Jardin de la Louve at Bonnieux

Jardin de la Louve (Garden of the She-Wolf) - BONNIEUX - garden more info

On 2013-02-16 11:03:09 +0000, Granity said:

'Sacha[_10_ Wrote:
;978277']Our first reaction is that it was an interesting programme that
we
enjoyed. BUT it was full of celeb irrelevancies. We are not interested

in where Monty Don lived when he was 19, what he looked like wearing a
berêt or what he used for transport. Nor did we care that he looked
like the wrath of dieu before he'd had a coffee or that he wanted to
sit in a Parisian streetside café, watching the world go by. ALL WASTED

TIME! But the gardening bits we did enjoy very much and we thought he
presented them really well. Giverny looks infinitely better planted
than it was 4 or 5 years ago and much more inviting and enticing. And
I'm afraid there's another BUT - but why don't they put the names of
the blasted gardens on the blasted screen? The one he visited in which

an American art dealer now lives absolutely fascinated me. I'd love to
see more of it but did we get the name? No, we did not. How
irritating! ça m'emmerde!! ;-)
--

Sacha
'Buy plants online, including rare and popular plant varieties from Hill
House Nursery, mail order plant specialist'
(http://www.hillhousenursery.com)
South Devon
'Help for Heroes' (http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk)

I rather got the impression it wasn't open to the public, but I might be
wrong.

I don't recall anything being said about that. You could be right but
I'll see if there's anything on the BBC website about the gardens he
went to.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2013-02-16 15:23:29 +0000, David Hill said:

On 16/02/2013 11:03, Granity wrote:
'Sacha[_10_ Wrote:
;978277']Our first reaction is that it was an interesting programme that
we
enjoyed. BUT it was full of celeb irrelevancies. We are not interested

in where Monty Don lived when he was 19, what he looked like wearing a
berêt or what he used for transport. Nor did we care that he looked
like the wrath of dieu before he'd had a coffee or that he wanted to
sit in a Parisian streetside café, watching the world go by. ALL WASTED

TIME! But the gardening bits we did enjoy very much and we thought he
presented them really well. Giverny looks infinitely better planted
than it was 4 or 5 years ago and much more inviting and enticing. And
I'm afraid there's another BUT - but why don't they put the names of
the blasted gardens on the blasted screen? The one he visited in which

an American art dealer now lives absolutely fascinated me. I'd love to
see more of it but did we get the name? No, we did not. How
irritating! ça m'emmerde!! ;-)
--

Sacha
'Buy plants online, including rare and popular plant varieties from Hill
House Nursery, mail order plant specialist'
(http://www.hillhousenursery.com)
South Devon
'Help for Heroes' (http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk)

I rather got the impression it wasn't open to the public, but I might be
wrong.


I remember many years ago C4 ran a series Gardens without borders, the
presenter had 6 or 7 viewers with him in a minibus and they toured
gardens around Europe, first class, no celeb involved.
Just gardens and gardeners comments.

Oh - I wish! At the same time, I have no objection to a professional
taking armchair visitors round gardens, or painting, or architectural
sites but I do wish there was less about the celeb's own life,
gardening philosophy and habits etc. It's a bit like that irritating
section in Countryfile where a presenter spends 2 minutes doing
whatever the local expert is doing and all you can wonder is 'why'? Who
cares if he or she can cast a fishing line or haul on a rope for the
camera? It adds nothing!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On Sat, 16 Feb 2013 Janet wrote:

In article lalaw44-46715F.13383816022013@surfnet-
nl.ipv4.ptr.145.109.x.invalid, says...

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

several things

Ditto Sacha: an almost content-free programme

Not to anyone interested in gardens, their design,
or the relationships betwen gardening, history and creative arts.

Quite! Prosaic gardeners seem to have missed that point! And it's why I
like the series. That's what French gardens are all about.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK

On 2013-02-16 15:40:26 +0000, Sacha said:

On 2013-02-16 11:03:09 +0000, Granity said:

'Sacha[_10_ Wrote:
;978277']Our first reaction is that it was an interesting programme that
we
enjoyed. BUT it was full of celeb irrelevancies. We are not interested

in where Monty Don lived when he was 19, what he looked like wearing a
berêt or what he used for transport. Nor did we care that he looked
like the wrath of dieu before he'd had a coffee or that he wanted to
sit in a Parisian streetside café, watching the world go by. ALL WASTED

TIME! But the gardening bits we did enjoy very much and we thought he
presented them really well. Giverny looks infinitely better planted
than it was 4 or 5 years ago and much more inviting and enticing. And
I'm afraid there's another BUT - but why don't they put the names of
the blasted gardens on the blasted screen? The one he visited in which

an American art dealer now lives absolutely fascinated me. I'd love to
see more of it but did we get the name? No, we did not. How
irritating! ça m'emmerde!! ;-)
--

Sacha
'Buy plants online, including rare and popular plant varieties from Hill
House Nursery, mail order plant specialist'
(http://www.hillhousenursery.com)
South Devon
'Help for Heroes' (http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk)

I rather got the impression it wasn't open to the public, but I might be
wrong.

I don't recall anything being said about that. You could be right but
I'll see if there's anything on the BBC website about the gardens he
went to.

It's La Louve in Bonnieux and it belongs to Judith Pillsbury now. It's
open to the public! Time for start planning a trip to France, I think!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2013-02-16 16:47:26 +0000, David Rance said:

On Sat, 16 Feb 2013 Janet wrote:

In article lalaw44-46715F.13383816022013@surfnet-
nl.ipv4.ptr.145.109.x.invalid, says...

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

several things

Ditto Sacha: an almost content-free programme

Not to anyone interested in gardens, their design,
or the relationships betwen gardening, history and creative arts.

Quite! Prosaic gardeners seem to have missed that point! And it's why I
like the series. That's what French gardens are all about.

David

Oh David! Janet has deliberately snipped that paragraph brutally.
John said "Ditto Sacha: an almost content-free programme; a great
disappointment.
Except for the spectacular landscapes, colours, and the atmosphere of
_heat_ :-)"

Iow, he 'got' it and was making a tongue in cheek remark! I said we
enjoyed the programme and commented on how interesting La Louve was to
me, in particular. Ray didn't find it half as attractive but sometimes
we see these things differently. He thinks of flowering plants and I
have started to become more interested in structure, though not at the
cost of flowering plants!

Looking up more information on La Louve, it's quite small considering
its impact - less than an acre. I thought Monty's remark about making
the 'passages' very narrow so that one then emerges into what seems
like a lot of space, was very interesting and a terrific example of how
a small area can be made to have more impact by NOT opening it up to
make it look bigger but using its smallness to make it seem larger.
And if this is still current, it's for sale
http://www.emilegarcin.fr/vente/Lube...-5748-EMG.html

but not to 'prosaic gardeners'! Let us know when you move in! ;-)
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

In article ,
lid says...

On Sat, 16 Feb 2013 Janet wrote:

In article lalaw44-46715F.13383816022013@surfnet-
nl.ipv4.ptr.145.109.x.invalid, says...

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

several things

Ditto Sacha: an almost content-free programme

Not to anyone interested in gardens, their design,
or the relationships betwen gardening, history and creative arts.

Quite! Prosaic gardeners seem to have missed that point! And it's why I
like the series. That's what French gardens are all about.

I thought the final part was one of the most interesting and
stimulating gardening programs I've watched for a very long time.


Janet.

In article ,
says...


It's La Louve in Bonnieux and it belongs to Judith Pillsbury now. It's
open to the public! Time for start planning a trip to France, I think!

Better be quick, it's for sale again

http://www.gardendesign.com/la-louve

" if you're interested in buying the property, the estate is being
handled by French realtors Emile Garcin, and the property is listed as
being in the "2,300,000¤ to 5,000,000¤" category. (For Americans, this
is between $3.3 million and $7.2 million.) We've put together a slide
show of the gardens from the realtor's site?a beautiful place to
daydream about on this Monday afternoon."

Janet

In article ,
says...

On 2013-02-16 16:47:26 +0000, David Rance said:

On Sat, 16 Feb 2013 Janet wrote:

In article lalaw44-46715F.13383816022013@surfnet-
nl.ipv4.ptr.145.109.x.invalid, says...

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

several things

Ditto Sacha: an almost content-free programme

Not to anyone interested in gardens, their design,
or the relationships betwen gardening, history and creative arts.

Quite! Prosaic gardeners seem to have missed that point! And it's why I
like the series. That's what French gardens are all about.

David

Oh David! Janet has deliberately snipped that paragraph brutally.


The rest of his post expanded on "almost content free", you dimwit.

John said "Ditto Sacha: an almost content-free programme; a great
disappointment.
Except for the spectacular landscapes, colours, and the atmosphere of
_heat_ :-)"

Iow, he 'got' it and was making a tongue in cheek remark!


Garbage. There was nothing tongue in cheek about the following:

"If they're gonna do a programme called "French Gardens", and use the
celeb who does "Gardener's World", why don't they use the same
production team, who would have supplied us with all the details we're
looking for (as subtitles, I mean).
I got the feeling this was produced by some effete member of the Beeb's
social elite -- possibly young and inexperienced, and certainly not
particularly interested in gardening"

That is not tongue in cheek, or an appreciation of the program. It
says he found the gardening details missing, lacking in details, the
producer inexperienced and "certainly not interested in gardening".

IOW to him the program was lacking on garden content

I disagree.


Janet