Wilson Landscapes Newspaper Stories
Wilson Landscapes has firmly established itself as a premier name in the Swindon Landscaping scene, earning a stellar reputation for transforming outdoor spaces across Wiltshire and surrounding areas. Their recent success reached a new milestone with the grand opening of their state-of-the-art showroom, an event that captured significant attention in the Swindon Advertiser.
Charlie Dimmock opens Wilson Landscapes’ Swindon showroom
A new gardening design showroom near Swindon is officially open for business, as celebrity gardener Charlie Dimmock arrived to cut the ribbon.
Wilson Landscapes’ new showroom just off the A420 at Watchfield was a pile of mud just seven weeks ago, but has now been transformed into a stunning interactive showroom with intricate displays and a virtual reality element.
The award-winning family business, run by director Nathan Wilson, has been hard at work to build what it claims to be the area’s “biggest landscape display” from the ground up.
The grand opening, which took place on Friday, March 21, saw celebrity gardening expert Charlie Dimmock arrive to try out showroom for herself and meet some of her biggest Swindon fans.
Charlie is best known across the UK for appearing on Ground Force, a BBC gardening makeover programme which aired from 1997 to 2005.
Since then, the horticultural expert has hosted numerous TV shows in the UK and US, most recently Garden Rescue.
The TV star, who got stuck in meeting locals, taking photos, answering questions and signing autographs, was also the first to try out Wilson Landscapes’ newest virtual reality feature.
The VR headset allows keen gardeners the chance to experience their designs in 3D before committing to anything, and Charlie claimed the novel idea was ‘amazing’.
“It was the first time I’d done that in my life,” she said.
“I was a bit dizzy afterwards because I was looking around too much but it gives you a great idea because sometimes, if you watch the programme, we do a 2D drawing and a lot of people when they come out and see the garden go ‘oh wow…I didn’t think it would look like this.
“Seeing it in 3D like that means you can see the areas, so I would suggest that’s a good idea.”
Addressing the crowds, she added: “It’s a pleasure to be here supporting Wilson Landscapes, a local firm.
“If you’re having your garden designed, they’ll come up with some ideas that you might not have thought of. It’s absolutely fantastic and I’m so pleased to be here.”
Several suppliers or supporters of Wilson Landscapes also attended the event to show off what they do, including Bradstone, Durapost, Deckorators, Artificial Grass.com, Postsaver, Wiltshire Air Ambulance and more.
“To create what they have in just a matter of weeks here is phenomenal, and having Charlie Dimmock to open it was just the icing on the cake really,” said one couple attending the opening.
“Charlie couldn’t have been lovelier. It’s weird when you’ve seen someone for yours on the telly, you do feel like you know them.”
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Charlie Dimmock shares behind the scenes of Ground Force
Gardening celebrity Charlie Dimmock has opened a new showroom near Swindon, and revealed some of her best tips and behind-the-scenes stories from her time on TV.
TV presenter Charlie Dimmock has had years of experience bringing gardens to life and is best known for her appearances on BBC’s Ground Force, and shows such as Charlie’s Garden Army and Garden Rescue, On Friday, March 21, Ms Dimmock took to Swindon to open Wilson Landscape’s new garden design show room just off the A420.
Speaking to Swindon fans, she revealed the ‘perfect’ finished gardens seen on hit shows such as Garden Rescue were often subject to a little ‘TV magic’. “A big tip would be to think about the practicalities of your garden as well,” she advised fellow gardeners at Wilson Landscapes’ Q&A. “You watch these makeover projects and the first thing they do is pull out the washing line and it never goes back in does it?
“Well I can tell you it does afterwards but it doesn’t look pretty on camera. The same with trampolines. We take those out and they do go back in afterwards but we don’t put them in on camera because they’re not pretty.
“So think about practicalities, draw something up, and then I’d say definitely come somewhere like Wilson Landscapes’ showroom to get ideas about the different surfaces and get someone to have a look at it.”
She added: “Be fluid and you might get a better finish to it. “We find it on Garden Rescue quite often where you start doing it and you suddenly think hold on a moment ‘if I twist it the other way it’ll have a much better view’.”
As well as sharing her top tips, Ms Dimmock spoke fondly of her time on various TV shows in the part. When asked which garden project has been her favourite, she said: “That’s too difficult. I’ve done loads of different projects and made loads of really fun people.
“Harry and David I got on with really well – they were a nightmare but really good fun and I miss them hugely.” However one garden, belonging to former South African president and activist Nelson Mandela, particularly stuck in her mind – for all the wrong reasons.
“It was in 1997 with Ground Force and it was quite something. Nelson Mandela was amazing as was his wife and they signed all our books for us,” she explained.
“It was a three-day built and it was a three-day drive to any suppliers so you make sure you’ve got enough and there was a load left over after we finished.
“When the crew had all left it was me, Kirsty, Jacob who was driving the truck and one other guy. You can imagine Nelson Mandela’s gate is big pillars, cameras on top and high security. “Jacob was driving out and he wasn’t quite straight on, it was tight, and he was going against the edge of the pillar which started to lean over. “We were like ‘woah’ tooting the horn but by then he got past and the pillar dropped back into place.”
“At that point Jacob thought something was wrong so he started reversing up. I was like ‘no, no, no, no’ and banging on the back of the truck,” she laughed.
One Swindon couple, who say they watch Ms Dimmock every Saturday morning on the TV, commented: “She’s just so lovely and down to earth.
“It’s weird when you’ve seen someone for years you feel like you know them.”
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