Couple with open garden celebrate 50 years together

For almost 30 years, Colin and Gill Hancock have opened the gate of their back garden in Derbyshire to anyone curious enough to wander in.

What began as a small patch of potatoes at the bungalow they bought from Gill's grandmother after their marriage in 1976, the space has since grown into a 25‑acre (10.1‑hectare) green haven with a wildlife pond and woodland.

The site in Belper Road, Stanley Common, has been part of the National Open Garden Scheme for 29 years, in which time the couple have raised over £60,000 for charity.

Now preparing to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in June, Colin and Gill hope their garden will continue to be enjoyed for many more years to come.

The Hancocks said they knew "next to nothing" about gardening when they first moved into their home almost 50 years ago.

Gill, 75, worked as a nursery nurse, while Colin, 76, worked as a door engineer at Rolls-Royce.

"When we came to live here, my father told us to grow some potatoes and vegetables, and that's how we started", said Gill.

After getting to grips with the gardening world, the couple had more work on their hands when Gill's father left 25 acres of farmland adjacent to their house in his will.

"We just kept nibbling at the land around us," said Colin. "So we kept buying bits of other people's gardens and expanding into the field. It just grew, naturally."

UK Coal mined 10 acres of the farmland left by Gill's father and restored what they had despoiled, helping the couple create their own wood, including a half-acre lake.

"When they put the land back, they wanted to enhance the landscape, so they helped us create the woodland and the lake," said Gill.

The woodland is now home to several hundred trees and swathes of marsh orchids.

Inspired by other properties participating in the National Open Garden Scheme, which opens more than 3,300 private gardens across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, the couple decided to open their gates for the first time in 1997.

The scheme also raises money for nursing and health charities through admissions, teas and cake.

Gill said a group of family and friends now helped keep the garden in shape.

"Family and friends have just been brilliant over the years," said Gill.

"There's about a team of 12 or 15 of us when we open. Some wash up, some serve cakes, some bring cakes and some help us grow plants."

"We get lots of pleasure out of it, and we just wanted to give something back to those charities."

Despite being together most days for the past half-century, Colin and Gill jokingly said completing tasks in the garden by themselves is the "secret" to why their marriage has lasted so long.

"It's been a lot of our life, because we've done it together, even though we do different things, in different areas of the garden", said Gill.

"We don't actually sit down together and pick out plants together. We're together within the garden, but not on one another's knee", said Colin.

"You see and you appreciate the work that the other one has done", he added.

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