As the much-loved Carol Klein turns 76 this month she reveals she definitely has no plans to retire. Carol - who has just returned to Channel 5 with a new series looking at Britain’s great gardens – admits she wants to keep on working for as long as her body (and TV bosses) will let her.
“Retire at my great age?” she exclaims when I ask her if she has ever contemplated giving up work. “I wouldn’t dream of it. I wouldn’t be happy. I love gardening and I love my TV work. Life couldn’t be better right now and I absolutely want to keep on going for as long as I can or when Channel 5 decides they’ve had enough!”
So is it the hours spent in the fresh air that’s helped her stay looking so youthful? “I don’t think I do!” she replies, laughing. “I’ve put my eye make-up on for you!”
She then goes on to explain just how much the work puts a spring in her step. “It’s so great to be able to make TV programmes. Gardening is my life.”
Warm, funny and self- deprecating, Carol’s passion and love of gardening is so infectious that she makes you want to rush outside to tend the flowers. She says she is pleased as many as three million people have taken up the hobby over the past year, but understandably wishes the circumstances could have been different.
“I would rather it had come about a different way, but gardening is a life saver and there is a reason why we call it Earth.
“I’m often stopped on buses, trains and in the street to ask my advice and I would say there is one tip that beats everything else - let plants be themselves. I’m not a great one for control because it’s a great privilege to grow plants.”
‘Mum loved gardening’
We asked Carol who is the one person she would love to say thank you to and she revealed it would be her beloved late mum. “She would love seeing me on TV. I ran a nursery for 30 years and when I did my very first Chelsea flower show, my sister-in-law brought her and I wasn’t expecting it. And she just loved it. She loved gardening – just as I do.”
Carol's husband
Carol has spent more time than ever in her garden in Devon, which she shares with her husband, Neil.
They’ve been married for more than 50 years and she confides she feels very lucky to have such a wonderfully supportive husband.
“He is lovely and the kindest act I’ve ever experienced is from him,” she reveals. “He used to write me love letters when we first started dating but now he makes me a boiled egg every morning! He never ever complains either. I know it makes him sound saintly, but he is extremely funny and that’s the best thing – not taking things too seriously and loving each other.”
Carol's daughters and family
Like many grandparents across Britain, Carol has found being apart from her daughters and two grandchildren difficult. Her eldest daughter, Annie, lives in California, which has made it doubly hard, while her youngest, Alice, lives in Lewisham with her two children, both under the age of three.
“My grandson was born just before lockdown so I got to see him briefly then and also, my granddaughter who I looked after for the night (while he was born). But we’ve seen so little of them and I have missed them hugely. I can’t wait to give them a hug. I just want to hang on to them!”
Very much putting her family first, she proudly goes on to share how her grandson Bill recently recognised her on TV. Known as Grandma, Carol beams as she confides: “I absolutely love being a grandmother and Alice sent me this wonderful video recently of Bill walking intently towards the telly and then going back to her saying ‘Grandma’. It was so lovely.”
She is hoping to get together with her family later this month to celebrate her 76th birthday. “I’ve asked Neil for a bike as a present this year as I would love to take up cycling.”
Carol's TV shows
So what other plans does she have for this year? Like us all, she is looking forward to being able to do some of the things over the coming months we’ve all taken for granted in the past, such as attending the garden festivals. “There’s a little one taking place in Malvern before the bigger festivals such as Chelsea return in the autumn. I think Chelsea will work well in the autumn and it will give everyone an impetus to do something new and different,” she adds.
And then of course, there are plenty more TV shows in the pipeline. Her new series sees Carol visiting eight different gardens across Britain including Coton Manor and Arundel Castle.
Says Carol: “We filmed it during the lockdowns and it’s been wonderful to do. There are so many lovely gardens to choose from – I hope to do another 22 series of it! They’ve all done some phenomenal things.”
Great British Gardens with Carol Klein is on Mondays, 9pm, Channel 5. Began June 14, catch up at My5
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