Alan Titchmarsh says ‘my eyes are full of tears’ as he shares real reason for leaving home

Renowned gardener and Gardeners' World host Alan Titchmarsh has in recent months spoken about a major change in his life — his decision to downsize from his Grade II Hampshire home to a single-storey building with a smaller garden in Surrey. In the process of this decision, Alan, 77, has been open about the fact that this has not been easy for him or his wife Alison to deal with. He has now gone further as he writes his final article from a garden he has dedicated over 20 years of his life to caring for. Writingin the BBC Gardeners’ World magazine, Alan opened up about the real reason for such a major change. He said: “At the time of writing, this will be my last missive penned from the house and garden into which we moved in 2002. Because…it’s time. Running a large garden – around four acres of land – is a huge undertaking. The rewards are enormous but the responsibility is weighty. “If I want to carry on writing and broadcasting…there is no way it can be maintained without help. I’ve been lucky over the years to find a handful of people who have been a godsend.” Alan later admitted that he had taken inspiration from the late monarch Queen Elizabeth II when he was trying to work out how to describe what he felt. He said: “It’s time to leave while I have the choice, rather than being forced out by circumstances beyond my control. It was Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II who reminded us that grief is the price we pay for love. “I cannot imagine ever loving a garden as much as the one I am leaving, which has seen my children grow up and echoed to the sounds of grandchildren…and now that I come to write these words I freely confess that my eyes are full of tears.” This is not the first time Alan has spoken about his time in the garden attached to his and Alison’s five-bedroom home, and how he feels about leaving. On the topic of how he feels about leaving the garden, he was once again stoic. He told The Times: “I love that garden more than I’ve loved anything I’ve ever made. I’ve given it a quarter of a century of love and care. “But when we hand over the key and close the gate, I’m not looking back. I can’t.” Although Alan is downsizing, he is not slowing down. In fact, he has recently launched his own YouTube channel, Gardening with Alan Titchmarsh, which now has over 100,000 subscribers. Expressing his delight at the channel’s success, he said it had stunned him “because I’m never terribly confident in what I do, but it’s gaining a thousand subscribers a day, which is kind of wow. I’m thrilled because it’s sharing skills.”