Front Garden Facelifts, ITV’s hugely popular gardening segment from This Morning, presented by David Domoney, sees David and a team of volunteers perform well-deserved transformations for people across the UK. The fourth in a series of Front Garden Facelifts with This Morning, sees David working with local garden centres across the country, to help a deserving makeover recipient.

Having campaigned to revive front gardens and make the most of outdoor space for over ten years, David arrived in Kent for the latest Front Garden Facelift. With the help of a team of volunteers from Coolings Garden Centre, students from Hadlow College, and more, they hoped to perform makeover magic once again in just 2 hours.

Introducing David and his team of volunteers were Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond when at 10 a.m., they knocked on the front door of Susan Wouters.

Susan is the third generation of her family to live in her home in Kent, her grandparents having purchased the property in 1932. They chose the home after seeing it advertised at the Ideal Home exhibition and fell in love with the new estate. Very keen gardeners, grandparents Frank and Rose nurtured the space at the front of the house, filling the beds with dahlias every year.

Sadly, due to health issues and incomplete renovations to the house, the garden has fallen into disrepair and needs a Front Garden Facelift.

Statistically, front gardens in the UK have been in decline for years. Recent polls have shown over 5 million front gardens in the UK have no greenery in them at all, making up one in three with no plants. Taking on an established garden can pose slightly more challenges than those of a newly built property.

New builds tend to provide you with a blank canvas, but when you decide to take on a property with an established garden, you may find yourself at a loss with where to start. David suggests the best way to get started is to concentrate on not only the aesthetics of the garden but also on improving the biodiversity of wildlife and pollinators visiting the garden.

David realises the untapped potential that exists in front gardens across the country and hopes that by creating programs like this with This Morning can really show the impact that front gardens can have on improving people’s lives and curb appeal.

David has seen first-hand with This Morning how much positivity providing a fresh front garden space can have. David said, “Over the course of these Front Garden Facelifts, I’ve been able to witness first hand how important these spaces are to people. They are a way to welcome you home and can even be an invaluable outdoor escape for people who spend most of their time at home. Freshening up these gardens with a few plants is a simple way to give a garden a new lease of life.”

Alan Harvey, Head of Horticulture at Hadlow College, said: “This was an absolutely fantastic experience for our students to be involved in, and I know they all loved it. We are lucky enough to have some first-class facilities here at Hadlow that our students benefit from, but there is no substitute for the experience of working under pressure in a real life situation and I very proud of how they responded to the challenge!”

“Completing these Front Garden Facelifts is a challenging but wonderful experience,” continued David. “I would like to thank Coolings Garden Centre, Hadlow College, Hippo Waste, Harrington Brothers Contractors, Wealden Benches, Tillers Turf, Darren Horan, and David Austin Roses for their help in transforming this garden for Susan, to restore it to its former glory.”

Once the time was called for the makeover, a massive undertaking after removing large sections of concrete from the space, David revealed the new front garden to Susan and her mum Jean, who had grown up in the house. With swathes of beautiful plants framing the garden, a brand-new garden wall, and a bench with a bespoke engraving to soak it all up in, both Jean and Susan were thrilled. They particularly loved the fragrant central rose garden, which recalled the beautiful roses Susan’s grandparents used to grow. Susan summed it up perfectly to David, proudly stating, “Now I have massive curb appeal!”

See David and the team in action on this fantastic makeover on the This Morning’s YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/3ZSW9KA