Council House Garden

Pam Rhodes visits the garden of Suffolk personality Peggy Cole in this Anglia Television episode of Anything Goes.

Row of council houses on Park Lane in Charsfield, Suffolk. A car drives past them and stops in front of a grey house with flowers covering the front garden. Presenter Pam Rhodes gets out of the car and walks round to the back garden. She commentates that No.1 Park Lane is as famous as a stately home. A sign saying ‘Akenfield Garden, Admission 30p’ is shown in the front garden. Camera pans across the back garden with people walking around looking at the flowers and plants. Greenhouses are zoomed in on as Rhodes says that there are plants here from all over the world. She also talks about the Royal visitors the garden has had. A sign reading ‘H.R.H. Princess Margaret visited this garden 3rd August 1984’ is zoomed in on. Close ups of plants and a wheelbarrow with plants growing out of it. Rhodes introduces Peggy Cole, owner and creator of the garden, and is taken on a tour. Rhodes interviews Cole whilst sitting on a bench in the garden. Cole says that she gets over 7000 visitors in a year. She does most of the gardening in the morning and grows a lot of herbs such as parsley. Rhodes explains how Cole grows plants for a purpose as well as for fun. More close ups of different plants and a bee on a flower. A fountain is shown and a sign saying ‘Open All Hours,’ with Rhodes explaining that the money raised from the garden goes to a local charity. Another close up of flowers. They discuss how the flowers are everlasting and go towards making displays for the local church. Interior of the greenhouses and a close up of Rhodes holding a flower. Shots of different vegetables before focusing on the cabbage, with Rhodes saying it could feed a family for a week. Rhodes states that Cole makes a lot of jams and pickles. A close up of a Black Morello Cherry wine bottle, with Cole explaining that she makes 80 gallons of wine a year with 40 different recipes. Ends with visitors looking at the flowers and a shot of the exterior of the house and the front garden.

Featured Buildings

The home of Peggy Cole - No. 1, Park Lane, Charsfield, Suffolk

Keywords

Akenfield; Council Houses; Gardening; Personalities; Rural Life; Suffolk.

Background Information

Anything Goes was an Anglia TV series that toured Britain in search of leisure ideas, presented by Paul Barnes with Pam Phodes originally, and Anthea Turner in later series.