Alan Titchmarsh has revealed the moving way he chose to remember his late mother, Bessie, combining his love of gardening with her passion for the outdoors.
The Gardeners’ World star grew up as the only child of plumber Alan Titchmarsh Sr and textile mill worker Bessie in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.
Despite later becoming one of Britain’s best-known TV presenters, he has often spoken of his humble beginnings and the values his parents instilled in him.
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Writing in his memoir Knave of Spades, Titchmarsh recalled how his mother loved fresh air and open windows, never happy indoors with doors closed.
“She would never be in the house without a window, and preferably the back door as well, wide open. She did not like, as she put it, ‘being fast’, meaning stuck or unable to get out,” he wrote.
Alan Titchmarsh -Credit:(Image: ITV)
Sixteen years after losing her husband, Bessie suffered two strokes, and the dad-of-two said it became clear “she was unlikely to pull through”.
Alan wrote that he remembered sitting by her hospital bed as she smiled at him. “Her hair was still dark, even at 78, though she had never in her life coloured it. Hair dye would be for ‘that dame’,” he said.
Before leaving that evening, Alan said he took her hand and told her he loved her. “She squeezed it back, with as much strength as she had. ‘Not as much as I love you,’ she said.”
As he turned to leave the ward, she winked and waved at him. “It was the last time I saw her. Two days later she died peacefully in her sleep.”
With the money she left him, Alan built a pale blue hexagonal summerhouse in his garden. “Sitting in the sunshine across from where I write,” he explained.
Alan admitted that his mother had little interest in his novels, which she teased were “a bit saucy”, but said that she adored the gardening, the books and the TV programmes, and above all, being outdoors.
Alan Titchmarsh -Credit:Getty Images
To honour that love, he had a plaque made for the back wall of the summerhouse, which is open on three sides, “just as she would have wanted.”
It reads:
In happy memory of
Bessie Titchmarsh
1924–2002
who loved being outside.
Reflecting on the tribute, Titchmarsh added: “I think she would have liked that.”
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