Why we love Branklyn Garden

Transcript

Six voices: Jim Jermyn (JJ); Alison Jermyn (AJ); two visitors (V1 and V2); Alasdair Chalmers (AC); Margaret (M)

(JJ)
My name is Jim Jermyn.
I'm the Head Gardener and Property Manager of Branklyn Garden, the National Trust for Scotland property here in Perth.
Branklyn Garden is very special.
It's a garden that was created 100 years ago this year by John and Dorothy Renton.
They built the house in 1922 and then developed the garden thereafter in three stages.

I absolutely love this place because of the inspiration of the Rentons.
Every time I come out, particularly with Alison at night with the wee dog and a wee glass of something, I can just see Mrs Renton's inspiration throughout the garden and I just feel that I'm part of her creation here.
So we sit down, and wherever we're looking we think of Mr and Mrs Renton.

I have three gardeners working here.
I have 30 garden volunteers varying in ages, from about 22 up to 96.
We have a lady who's been serving here as a volunteer for all these years.
She comes across from Craigie on the other side of town, with her trowel and fork, and she's part of this amazing team.
So the garden team has 30+ volunteers and then Alison has 20+ volunteers in the tearoom and the shop.
Since I arrived here with Alison, who's a confectioner, we've developed a tearoom.
And we find that people are stopping and really enjoying the ambience of the garden because of the tearoom.

(AJ)
My name is Alison Jermyn and I'm Visitor Services Supervisor at Branklyn.
I love this place because it's such a special garden.
We have unique plants from all over the world, and the scents and the colours ...
People have been today and said it's just paradise.
We have tables and chairs on the lawn, so you sit on the lawn with the lovely view of the garden and they just love it.
They love just the ambience of the place, the tranquillity.

They come into the tearoom mainly for the scones, because we bake them fresh as we need them throughout the day, so they're generally just coming out of the oven.
We make three different types: we make cheese scones, plain scones and fruit scones.
And at the weekend we make gluten-free scones as well, which are becoming more popular.

(V1)
I just love the garden.
I love all the colours -- the combination of the colours.
I love the azaleas and feel particularly lucky today to have seen the blue poppies, which are absolutely glorious.

(AC)
I’m Alasdair Chalmers. I'm the gardener here at Branklyn.
I love the variety in this garden.
It's absolutely packed full of plants -- all sorts of weird and wonderful things that you rarely come across anywhere else.
The succession of planting in this garden is unbelievable.
We start off with a white carpet of snowdrops, followed by a blue carpet of scillas and then a yellow carpet of primulas, and so it goes on.
It just changes and changes and changes throughout the year.
Every day's a school day in this garden! You're always learning something new.

(M)
I'm Margaret. I'm a volunteer at Branklyn Garden in Perth.
I started here in November last year.
I love it here -- everybody is so friendly.
From the first day I started, I was really made very welcome.
All the volunteers and all the staff here are so, so friendly and welcoming.
It's just so different every time you turn up each week. There's so many different plants.
There's so many unusual plants here, which attracted me.
I'm a keen gardener myself but I've learned so much since I started here.

(V2)
This is the first time I've ever been to Branklyn Garden and I am just stunned by it, absolutely stunned by the sheer magnificence of the colours and the scents and the textures.
The rhododendrons are stunning and the Meconopsis ... I've always loved Meconopsis and I don't think I've ever seen so many in one place.
And the acers -- there’s a wee avenue of acers down there and you brush past them on both sides, wonderful.
It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.