02 October 2023 , 08:57
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The nation's favourite gardener, Alan Titchmarsh, has revealed there is one day of the week that he nevercuts his grass - and he is urging green-fingered fans to do the same.
Sundays should be a day of absolute peace and quiet, according to the 74-year-old, who would rather listen to birdsong than the sound of a Black & Decker.
Alan said: "It's clear to me the rarest thing in any garden is silence. It appears to be the one commodity money can't buy. I was worried I would sound holier-than-thou when I explained that I never use power tools on a Sunday.
"I believe profoundly there should be at least one day in the week when we could go out into our gardens and experience a bit of peace and quiet," he wrote in BBC Gardeners' World magazine. "I want to listen to the birds singing. And hear the wind rustling the leaves of the horse chestnut across the garden, the splash of a duck landing on our wildlife pond, the cluck of a moorhen darting across the lily pads and the laughter of grandchildren."
Alan first appeared on the TV on 's Nationwide before he went on to present BBC's Chelsea Flower Show in 1983 and since has fronted other series including Ground Force and Love Your Garden. He is now in his fifth decade as a TV star and previously said he does not want to stop working because he would lose his "sense of purpose".
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When asked if he had contemplated retiring, he previously told the Mirror: "Never. Why would I retire and have to find something to interest me and fill the day? "I've got a sense of purpose and reason to get up in the morning, that's the greatest gift of all. But I do consider myself very lucky to still be on the screen at my age."
Alan lives with his former doctor wife Alison in a Grade-II listed farmhouse in Hampshire. They now have adult daughters, Polly, 42, and Camilla, 40, and four grandchildren aged six to nine. Has he passed on his green fingers to his grandkids? "No signs so far," he says. "I did get them growing vegetables this spring. They loved it for a bit, but then got bored and went back to playing football.
"They all live 15 minutes away, so I see them all the time. I like being part of their lives and gently impinging without it being, 'Oh gosh, Grandpa's here, what do we have to do now?' The best way to catch a butterfly is to stand still until it lands on you, rather than chase after it."