Naked couple publish first book (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Naked couple publish first book

MALMESBURY'S most colourful couple, Ian and Barbara Pollard, of Abbey House, hit the headlines again this week with the publication of a book featuring themselves naked on the cover.

Their lavishly-illustrated book, The Naked Gardeners, is published this week but will be officially launched with a signing session next Tuesday, March 21 as the gates to the world-famous gardens are thrown open again for the 2006 visitor season.

The couple have produced the softback publication, featuring 200 colour photographs, to mark the tenth anniversary of their decision to create a five-acre garden in the heart of the town and open it to the public.

They were first dubbed The Naked Gardeners by the Radio Times after they were filmed over a period of months, and interviewed by Alan Titchmarsh, for a special BBC Gardeners, World programme broadcast in 2003.

Although annual visitor numbers had reached a record 60,000, the Pollards seriously considered selling up and moving abroad that year after a planning row made newspaper headlines.

"We thought about buying a chateau and moving to France," Mrs Pollard told the Standard. "It looked at one stage as though we might be closed down because of various planning issues that surfaced.

"So while it was a glorious year for weather and visitors, we had this uncertainty about whether we could carry on here."

However their children, Arushka, Rufus and Kian, helped to talk them round, the family stayed put and the gardens remained open.

"It,s been wonderfully satisfying experience to achieve what we set out to do. We hope to still be here in another 10 years - it's our home," Mrs Pollard added.

The book, which shows the garden as it changes through the seasons, will be available for sale at Abbey House Gardens and the Malmesbury Bookshop at £12.50.

New features for the coming season include an auricular theatre, displaying the primula-like plants against a wooden backed structure faced with stone tiles, and a fuschia gallery.

The couple have also re-modelled the old town wall walk and planted 100,000 tulips.

So is the garden, which has been so many years in the making, finished?

"The big lay-out is as close to being finished as we can say, " replied Mrs Pollard. "But gardens are always evolving, and we're constantly looking for new ways of doing things."

This year's special anniversary events include a Victorian weekend on June 10-11, when visitors wearing Victorian garb will be admitted free, and exhibitions of photography and art in the shelter of their belvedere.

The gardens are open to the public this Sunday, March 19, in aid of the National Gardens Scheme.

For more information on upcoming events and facilities at Abbey House Gardens, visit the website www.abbeyhousegardens.co.uk or ring the recorded information line on 01666 822212.