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Spring Gardening With Carol Klein: how the presenter transformed her stunning Glebe Cottage garden

The presenter and gardening expert has lived at the property for 43 years

carol klein transfomation
Eve Crosbie
TV & Film Writer
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Gardening expert and TV presenter Carol Klein is back on screens in her Channel 5 series, Spring Gardening With Carol Klein, which sees the TV star invite viewers once again into the breathtaking grounds of her countryside home, Glebe Cottage.

MORE: Everything you need to know about Carol Klein: age, children, net worth and more

Carol has spent the best part of 40 years renovating the garden space, but did you know when she first moved to the property it was nothing more than a tip used to store old cars and rubbish? Dropping by This Morning in February, the gardening expert opened up about how she transformed the empty acre of land into the stunning garden it is today.

WATCH: Gardening presenter Carol Klein's garden is truly breathtaking

She revealed that she and husband Neil moved to the Devon property in 1978 from London after she landed a teaching job in the area. When it came to house searching, Carol, whose love for horticulture started at a young age, said that "all she wanted" was a nice, big garden but said that estate agents didn't listen and showed her properties with little green space.

MORE: See Gardeners' World presenter Adam Frost's new 'scaled back' garden

MORE: Gardening presenter Carol Klein's bond with Queen Mother revealed

"They were trying to get us to buy a little terraced house but I didn't care about the house," she said as she appeared via video link from her greenhouse. "I just wanted a garden! Then we found this place and it's just perfect."

carol klein garden© Photo: Channel 5

Carol has been renovating the garden since 1978

Hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford then asked what the place looked like when the family first moved in, to which she replied: "There wasn't a garden! There were lots and lots of old cars, an old shed - and I had to get in there and take all the old cars out."

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Photos of the garden before Carol renovated it then flashed up on the screen, showing an overgrown field filled with rubble, rubbish and long grass.

In comparison, today the garden is a lush green paradise boasting a wildflower meadow, an impressive vegetable patch and an array of different trees, including one that was gifted to the presenter by her late mum almost 35 years ago. In a Radio Times interview, the former Gardeners World presenter said that lots of the plants in the garden have "connections to people and places, each with a story."

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