Top gardener Martin Fish is selling his idyllicYorkshire home

Thornycroft, Rainton

£650,000

www.buchananmitchell.com

As unexpected requests go when viewing a house, Martin Fish took first prize when he arrived to look round a pretty cottage in Rainton, near Thirsk. He turned up with a spade and asked if he could dig a hole in the garden.

The result sealed the deal. “I wanted to inspect the soil and it was amazing. It was sandy, deep, free-draining and fertile,” says Martin, a renowned gardening expert, author, broadcaster and Royal Horticultural Society judge at Chelsea, Hampton Court and other major flower shows.

His aim was to create a splendid garden from scratch on the large 0.6 acre plot that had been laid mainly to lawn. “I loved the house but the soil was important. My last garden in Nottingham had clay soil, which was hard going and I didn’t want to put myself through that again."

Now, 11 years on, the land behind the cottage is transformed winding pathways through herbaceous and flower borders interspersed with shrubs and seating areas. The planting has been designed to give structure, colour and scent throughout the seasons and there is a vegetable plot and orchard together with a greenhouse and polytunnel providing year-round produce.

Martin and his wife, Jill, bought the house in 2009 after Martin took up the role of Director of the Harrogate Flower Shows and are now selling the property, which is on the market for £650,000, with Buchanan Mitchell. “I wanted to be half an hour from Harrogate and we wanted to live in a village so this property was perfect,” he says.

While Martin took the lead in the garden, Jill, who has a talent for design and cookery, took charge of the interiors. Along with redecorating, two rooms were combined to create a larger kitchen, the bathroom reconfigured and a wood-burning stove installed. An annexe once used for a dependent relative now generates an income and is let via AirBnB.

The property has a sitting room, dining room, study, kitchen, utility room, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The annexe has a sitting room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. Outside, there is a garage, party barn, workshop and carport.

Martin and Jill are moving to fulfill a dream of creating another garden in an open woodland style. “I am 60 in a year or so and if I don’t start that garden soon I won’t be around long enough to see it mature,” says Martin. “It will also give me something new to write about."

For details of Thornycroft, Rainton, contact: Buchanan Mitchell, tel: 01423 360055, www.buchananmitchell.co.uk. Martin's love of gardening and Jill's love of cooking with fresh garden produce prompted them to write a book "Gardening on the Menu". Visit www.martinfish.com for details

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