His garden is now a place to relax, but also to think. Rather than switching off, “I switch on in the garden, and tune in,” he says. “There’s something about the garden, and a contemplative angle on life, that works very well together. It’s a bit like classical music, which is advertised as something to relax and unwind to. I find it’s something that speaks to me profoundly about the searching questions in life, and I think standing in nature and negotiating our way with nature probably does the same thing.”
Moreover, he admits to being a pessimist who is hopeful. The garden suits that mindset, as it reminds him that the future will, as he puts it, “bring its wonders and its beauty, as well as its challenges and its tough stuff, so I think it makes me hopeful”.
Ultimately, he acknowledges: “Like most people who like gardens but don’t garden, I think they happen by magic.”
A Heist Before Bedtime, a collection of true crime stories for children, by The Reverend Richard Coles, is out now (Wren & Rook; £14.99)
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