麻豆约拍

The Gardeners' Corner team indulged in a little time travel recently when on a blustery wet night we made our way to Anahilt to record this week鈥檚 programme.

The journey to Anahilt from Hillsborough (where we met to have a bite to eat before the programme) may be short, but what it lacks in distance it made up for in atmosphere on the night, as the wind and the rain spirited us along winding country roads on our way to find the church.

High hedges added to a sense of timelessness as we drove along peering through the rain and I couldn鈥檛 help thinking about the journey made 350 years ago by Anahilt鈥檚 first minister.

He came originally from Portpatrick, but who made the journey across the Irish Sea all those years ago to his new congregation and new home. We found it easily (not always the case!) and it sits on a little hill beneficently overlooking it鈥檚 parish.

I couldn鈥檛 help wondering what on earth he and his first congregation would have made of us and the programme we were about to make.

Celebrations have been taking place all year to mark this big anniversary in the church鈥檚 history and we were delighted to be a part of the activities. It was perhaps fortunate for Reverend Gareth McFadden, the current minister, that we don鈥檛 bring livestock with us as he had already succumbed to auction fever during the summer and had bought a small pony at the church fair.

Lancelot is now a happy new member of the McFadden family.

The Reverend McFadden recorded a short interview with us for the top of the programme during which he mentioned that as well as acquiring Lancelot, he can now also add vegetable growing to his portfolio of skills. So he is well in the moment there and was among the chosen few to put questions to our panel on the night and they were Maurice Parkinson and Averil Milligan.

The questions included when to prune blackcurrant bushes and how far to go; how to manage a privet hedge which has become too wide; what plants grow well in north-facing beds which only get sunlight in the afternoon; is it possible to grow the blue Himalayan Poppy in this climate; how do I prevent my five year old lawn from yellowing during the winter and what coppery coloured plants would be good to replace a thorny berberis.

As ever Averil and Maurice came up with great ideas, suggestions and answers and you can of course hear them all on this week鈥檚 programme or at your leisure should you choose to download the whole programme as a podcast.

After the recording and before we all headed off into the County Down night, the Rev McFadden invited us to see the inside of the church, recently restored and looking fresh, new and gently reconfigured. And in pride of place on the wall beside the pulpit, facing the congregation, a large simple head stone movingly carved with the names of previous ministers which had been discovered during the renovations.

It was a pleasure to see it and to be a small part of Anahilt鈥檚 anniversary celebrations.