Belmont needs more people
who hate gardening

Tony Hudson's most visible image is when he drives his blue Subaru Impreza along Dorchester Way. Everyone is familiar with the car. Imagine King Kong sitting on the riverbank at Breinton complaining of dyspepsia. That's it - a low, slightly irregular rumble.

Occasionally this car makes you feel you're hallucinating, believing that Subaru Imprezas are capable of some sort of time warp. That's because Tony's two sons also have Imprezas, also blue. Thus an Impreza parked at Tesco appears to have a simultaneous existence with one tranquilly overlooking the Landfill.

Given the price of an Impreza its not surprising to discover Tony is a motor sport fan. What's more surprising is that he's also a relentless gardener. Most surprising of all is that he hates gardening.

Well he could have fooled this website editor. The picture above on the right shows Tony briefly resting from ministering to a tiny - unpromising - strip of land adjacent to the turning spur off Dorchester Way. Prior to working with a spade he'd been attacking this thinly covered deposit of builder's rubble with a pickaxe. The aim being to plant a curtain of leylandii to block out the immediate view if proposals to install a play and kickabout area on adjacent open land (See What's New) go ahead.

But this is just one of his recent projects. Having inherited a rather lacklustre lawn at the back of his house he has not only not only transformed it into an attractively planted, low-maintenance gravel garden (see picture above on left) but has also done the same for the adjacent garden of his neighbour. Another no-man's-land strip at the other side of the access road has been enhanced with potted shrubs. He's even stained the boundary fence beyond. The result is a visual benefit for everyone who uses this road, from the postman to the delivery drivers who regularly misdirect themselves as a result of the eccentric road numbering system hereabouts.

Tony insists he hates gardening. Perhaps then, hatred is the missing ingredient in many gardens round the estate.

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