He maybe a Yorkshire man born and bred but Hampshire is now very much Alan Titchmarsh's home.

"I would like to think I have adopted the county and that it has partially adopted me," he said, having lived in Hampshire since 1980.

The county itself has provided both horticultural and literary inspiration for the keen gardener and novelist.

After writing nearly 40 gardening books and having fronted countless gardening programmes, including Gardener's World, Ground Force and How To Be A Gardener, you may be forgiven for thinking that Alan knows all there is to know about making a garden grow.

But he loves nothing more than visiting some of Hampshire's finest gardens including Hinton Ampner in Bramdean, near Alresford, for its wide ranging vistas, colour schemes and lovely plants.

"It has wonderful views, apart from anything else, and is a well looked after garden with a big beautiful Georgian house. That is one of my locals."

The 58-year-old, who lives in an old Georgian farmhouse near Alton, complete with a two-acre garden, is also a fan of the gardens at Bramdean House, near Alresford.

"There are great herbaceous borders - I like getting tips from what I see there!"

His own former garden in Barleywood, Hampshire, situated on a north facing hillside of chalk, clay and flint became familiar to millions of television viewers because for many years Gardeners' World was filmed there.

Now, instead of sharing his garden with the television cameras, he can enjoy his own open space's tranquillity privately with his wife Alison and two daughters Polly and Camilla.

"I loved gardening on the steep slope at Barleywood and I love the new garden too," said Alan whose busy work schedule means that he has to do all his weeding and planting in his spare time.

He also enjoys taking inspiration from the people and places he comes across for his novels.

"I always like to set novels in places I know because I always think they have a greater sense of place."

When it comes to writing, (he is currently working on his sixth novel) Alan finds that his second home, a flat in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, provides the perfect environment.

He also has a 38-foot trawler yacht moored on the island which on those occasional days off he loves sailing on the Solent.

"I have always enjoyed the Isle of Wight. I go back not just at weekends, but I go there to write quite a lot during the week."

"I have always been very fond of it," he said.

"We are an island race anyway living on a bigger island which the Isle of Wight people call the north island. We cycle a lot and walk a lot when we are over there. For an island that is relatively small it's got tremendous variety.

"The people are very good to us and we have always felt a great affinity with it."

Again Alan is a fan of the gardens on the island with Osborne House his favourite.

"It's a special place. When you go in the house you expect it to be dark and dismal because it's Victorian but it's like a house on the French Riviera - the light in there is beautiful.

"The views from there looking down on the Solent are spectacular."

Alan is the High Sheriff in Nomination for the Isle of Wight - a role he will take up later this year.

He became the Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire six years ago and makes a point of getting involved in local life wherever he can.

"Putting back into the community is very important. We have a carol service at Winchester Cathedral every December and I do the readings at that."

His involvement in the local community means that Alan was more than happy to receive an honorary degree from the University of Winchester during the latest round of graduations.

"It means an awful lot to me. It's a real treat to be able to wear robes like this!"

For the young Alan, a son of a textile mill worker and plumber, a passion for gardening emerged early on while growing up in his Yorkshire hometown of Ilkley Moor.

"I had always been an outdoor child growing up in the Yorkshire Dales.

"I was not particularly academic at school. I was a late developer and gardening was a great solace really.

"I found that I could take cuttings and they would root and sow seeds and they would come up.

"There is nothing like a bit of success."

After leaving school at 15 with just one O-level, Alan's first job was working for Ilkley Council's Parks Department.

He studied horticulture at college and landed a job at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, London, before moving into horticulture journalism where he ended up as deputy editor of Amateur Gardening magazine.

But it was in 1979 that Alan got his big break in television when Nationwide needed a gardening expert to talk about the greenfly invasion of the Kent coastal resort of Margate.

He became a regular and then moved on to present the lunchtime show Pebble Mill, Points of View, Songs of Praise and every year continues to front the BBC's coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show.

Most recently he has just finished an eight week run of The Alan Titchmarsh Show - a one hour weekday afternoon chat show on ITV.

"My dream guest would probably be the actress Maggie Smith but she never seems to do interviews.

I have always liked her work."

Alan is most synonymous with his gardening books and programmes which earned him an MBE seven years ago for services to horticulture and broadcasting.

He has twice been named Gardening Writer of the Year', four times Television Personality of the Year by the Gardeners' Writers' Guild and three years ago was awarded the Victorian Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society.

So does Hampshire's very own horticultural guru think that gardening has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years as people become more environmentally conscious and want to know where their food come has come from?

"For the first time now vegetable seeds are selling more than flower seeds," he said.

"I have been gardening on the box for nearly thirty years, just encouraging people to share the passion I have. The results are important not only for their beauty, but also our survival with growing food and the survival of wildlife.

"It's a kind of triple whammy. It's desperately important - it's the sharp end of conservation if you like."

People growing their own vegetables and making their own compost is exactly the type of grassroots conservation that Alan likes.

"I'd rather people stop worrying about their carbon footprint which is something that no-one fully understands and concentrate more on practical measures like growing things, and planting wild flowers."

Whether you have a sprawling garden or just a window box Alan insists that everyone can do their bit.

"People can make a difference in their window boxes and can join organisations that can make a difference like local woodland and wildlife trusts.

"It's no excuse if you haven't got a piece of your own land. There are so many conservation volunteer opportunities now."

Alan's infectious enthusiasm for gardening means there's only one thing for it - get your wellies on and just see what you can grow!

3:51pm Thursday 3rd January 2008

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