Monty Don's Spanish Gardens s01e03 (2024)
Each region has its own customs, culture, architecture and gardens, including an allotment at the foot of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the lush greenery of the Pazo de Oca, a giant puppy made entire from live plants in Bilbao and a groundbreaking botanical garden in Barcelona.
Transcript
00:00Like many people, my experience of Spain has come from going on holiday,
00:04mainly in the sun-soaked south.
00:06But that's only a very small part of this huge country.
00:13Spain's history is deep and complicated,
00:17and its landscapes, climates and cultures have huge diversity.
00:26And in this series, I want to get under the skin of the country,
00:29by visiting as many gardens in Spain as I can.
00:33So I can shed light on this nation's past, its future and its people.
00:39Wow, that's a whopper.
00:42I've seen gardens that are public, as well as gardens that are very private.
00:48I've seen gardens made for unlikely clients.
00:51Now, show me the garden.
00:52I've also found inspiring gardens in unlikely places.
00:57It's a surprise inside a building. It's a surprise inside a school.
01:01And as I've travelled over 4,000 kilometres,
01:05I've seen modern masterpieces,
01:08as well as lovingly tended historical jewels.
01:15This is a complex and vast country.
01:18There is so much to see and so much to learn.
01:28MUSIC
01:37On this trip, I'm in the north of the country,
01:40travelling right across from west to east, visiting gardens as I go.
01:46Along the way, I will see a garden and house that were literally picked up
01:52and given a new life in a new place.
01:55There's a 40-foot floral puppy in Bilbao
01:59and a plantsman's paradise hidden deep in the Basque countryside.
02:07Right, they're happy.
02:11And I'm starting here in Santiago de Compostela.
02:16MUSIC
02:24Looking out on this cathedral city,
02:26you immediately understand the power and influence of the Catholic Church.
02:32Since the 11th century, hundreds of thousands of people
02:36have made the pilgrimage to Santiago,
02:39the capital of Galicia in Spain's north-west.
02:44The pilgrim's route is marked by the sign of a shell all along the way.
02:49And as they enter the city, even the houses have shells on them
02:54to say that they are on the right track
02:58as they come up towards the end of their journey at the cathedral.
03:03MUSIC
03:08Following in their footsteps up the narrow cobbled streets,
03:12I arrive at the pilgrim's final destination.
03:18It is the cathedral, with its magnificent Baroque façade,
03:22first built in the Middle Ages to hold the remains of Santiago, James the Apostle.
03:32MUSIC
03:35It has been a symbol of Catholic Spain ever since.
03:40And today's pilgrims walk with shells on their rucksacks
03:44and carrying staffs just as they have done for 1,000 years.
03:57Finally, they reach this glorious square,
04:01exhausted but elated as they contemplate the journey that they've made.
04:12Before I explore the city a bit more,
04:15I'm taking a trip out to the countryside to visit a special garden.
04:24This lush, green, almost alpine region of Spain
04:28is known for its many large country estates.
04:35They are often owned by nobility
04:37and have been passed down from generation to generation.
04:41And the one I'm heading for is one of the most significant in the whole of Spain...
04:49..called the Galician Versailles.
04:53This is Pato de Oca.
04:55Now, Pato, in this part of the world, refers to an important house.
04:59It could be a farmhouse, it could be a palace.
05:02And Pato de Oca is definitely on the palatial end of that scale.
05:06But it's not just a building, because there's a large estate
05:09and one of the most famous gardens in the whole of Spain.
05:14The garden is laid out in a series of enclosures
05:18and, at its heart, has the confidence and swagger
05:22of a formal Baroque French garden.
05:27It's equally elegant and playful,
05:30with both grandeur and elegance,
05:33and, at the heart of it all, it's the perfect place for a picnic.
05:39It's equally elegant and playful,
05:42with both grandeur and generosity in its planting.
05:48It has abundant use of local stone
05:51and, above all, of water in every form.
05:57Rills, fountains and two large ponds.
06:03The heart of the Baroque garden is here in these two ponds.
06:07The first one is the Pond of Virtue,
06:11where you spend your life in a lovely boat
06:14filled with fruit and flowers, fishing happily,
06:17knowing that you are following the true path
06:20and not transgressing in any way.
06:23But should you go wrong,
06:25then you pass through a narrow channel,
06:28exiting out of a snake's head down to the Pond of Vanity,
06:32which is occupied by a warship, manned by monsters.
06:36And that serves you right
06:38for not following the path of true righteousness and transgressing.
06:43And I love the way that the Baroque sensibility,
06:46and these were made in the early 18th century,
06:48is not only portrayed in the ponds and the stonework
06:53and the physical representation,
06:56but also in this embellishment of morality.
07:00Water flows throughout this garden,
07:04thanks to the two rivers that were diverted via this wash house
07:10to create the stream that runs along a series of elegant stone canals.
07:22This area, created in 1776,
07:27is one of the many cool, quiet places
07:31with water and stone and above all shade
07:35that survives the existing garden.
07:42Over the years, areas of the garden have been remodelled,
07:46often according to the royal fashions of the time.
07:50In 1845, a French court gardener,
07:54influenced by the English Romantic movement,
07:57came to Pato de Oca.
07:59The royal gardener, Francois Vier,
08:02came here and replaced much of the Baroque garden
08:06with the more fashionable, softer, romantic planting.
08:10And in the 20th century,
08:13much of his work has reverted back to the Baroque designs.
08:18But this avenue of limes remains,
08:21tying in the formality of the Baroque
08:24with the softness of his original 19th-century planting.
08:35In recent years, under the direction of the Duke of Segovia,
08:39the owners, the Medicinelli Foundation,
08:42have restored the elaborate kitchen garden
08:45so that it is both pretty and productive.
08:50They've also planted a kiwi orchard.
08:54Kiwi fruit were introduced to Spain in the late 1960s,
08:57and you'll see them all over Galicia,
08:59where the climate has proved to be ideal for them.
09:04But the core of the garden depends upon four factors.
09:09The green everywhere, this lush green.
09:12The stone, which has a particular heft.
09:16Water running into all parts of the garden.
09:21But the fourth element, the one that ties it all together,
09:25is the Baroque wit and charm
09:28that makes it such a magnificent place.
09:38I've now come back to explore Santiago a little bit more.
09:43It is filled with historic buildings,
09:46ancient houses and many parks and courtyards
09:49that all welcome pilgrims and offer them spaces to rest.
10:00Whilst wandering amongst the back streets,
10:03I unexpectedly came across an allotment,
10:06and clearly not intended for pilgrims.
10:10The inhabitants have their lives to lead too,
10:13and they need space to cultivate and to rest and relax in.
10:17And this allotment, right in the heart of the city,
10:21beneath the cathedral itself, seems to be thriving,
10:25seems to be really used and loved.
10:33There is a common language of allotments the world over.
10:38But the local variations in what is grown and how it is used
10:42is always fascinating.
10:45I noticed that everyone there
10:47was gathering bouquets of flowers and herbs.
10:50What are you doing here? What are you picking?
10:53So I approached two of the allotment holders, Juan and Jose,
10:57to find out a bit more.
11:08This kind of smelling plants in water.
11:14It turns out to be Juan's name day, as well as the summer solstice,
11:19and this calls for special celebrations.
11:23Not only do they gather bunches of herbs,
11:26but these are soaked in water overnight, ready for the next day.
11:33And with the water, when you bathe them, you clean your face too?
11:36Yes, we clean our face to be...
11:40Purified?
11:41Purified and to be more beautiful.
11:44And smell better.
11:45Yes, and smell better.
11:47And the other tradition to put in the door
11:51is against the bad spirit.
11:55We can show you.
11:56I would like to see, yes.
11:58Juan and Jose give me a tour around the allotment.
12:02Lots of mint.
12:04Beans.
12:06Pimentos, strawberries.
12:10Yes, blueberries.
12:12Can I taste one? Thank you.
12:15Wow, that's a whopper.
12:18Thank you.
12:19Gracias.
12:24Thank you for showing me.
12:26It's really lovely.
12:29What was really noticeable to me,
12:31having visited lots of allotments in Britain,
12:34is how everything grown here was used,
12:38obviously for food, but also for ritual, medicine,
12:44in a very natural, unremarkable way.
12:48And there doesn't seem to be any of the competitive elements
12:51you find in so many allotments,
12:53but a real sense of sharing and community.
12:56That comes through very strongly.
13:05I'm now leaving Santiago
13:08and heading north to follow a 700-kilometre journey
13:12via the Atlantic coast of Spain,
13:14and I'll visit three very different regions of the country.
13:19Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country.
13:24On my final leg, I take a train from the Atlantic
13:28to the Mediterranean coast
13:30and to the capital of Catalonia, Barcelona.
13:36But first, there's one more Galician garden that I want to see.
13:44It's attached to another pathway,
13:46but it's more in the tradition of this area,
13:49which is predominantly agricultural.
13:55The Pato de Rivadola
13:58has been in the same family since the 16th century.
14:06The estate is approached via a fabulous avenue
14:10of ancient olive trees.
14:12And at the entrance to greet me was the owner, Juan Armada.
14:19Juan. Hello, Monty.
14:21Nice to meet you. How do you do?
14:23I'm very well. Nice to meet you here.
14:25How old are those trees?
14:27Oh, more than 450 years.
14:30Really? Really.
14:31They were planted, we think, in the second half of the 16th century.
14:36And how long have your family been here?
14:38500 years.
14:40So they planted them?
14:41Yes, yes, of course.
14:43The estate is divided into three distinct areas.
14:47There are food cultivation,
14:51an ornamental garden
14:53and a magnificent woodland.
14:58Please show me the garden. I'd love to see it.
15:04Juan is particularly proud of his collection of trees,
15:08including some giant specimens such as the Washington palms
15:14and a glorious phytolacca,
15:18as well as a super-sized magnolia grandiflora.
15:25The magnolias.
15:27Look at them. They're huge.
15:31And these palms.
15:33You see, what surprises me is the size of everything.
15:37It must be the climate.
15:39Yes, that is true.
15:42This extraordinary collection has been created
15:45by many generations of keen gardeners and plant hunters.
15:52You're very lucky to inherit somebody else's planting.
15:56Yes, of course.
15:57That is the same, the things you love.
16:00Yes, of course.
16:02I say I haven't planted very, very few plants.
16:05There were all the plants there.
16:12Continuity is woven into Rivadella.
16:16But on an incredibly hot June day,
16:19I couldn't help wondering whether Juan's grandchildren
16:22will be dealing with a different climate
16:25and therefore a different palette of plants.
16:34Leaving Galicia, I'm now heading north-east
16:37through the dramatic wooded countryside of Asturias.
16:41My destination is the Atlantic Coastal Resort of Rivadicella,
16:46and this is where the Spanish come in summer
16:49to escape the fierce southern sun.
17:00It's about 10 degrees cooler here,
17:02so much nicer than the burning heat of month after month.
17:07It's got sea looking out to the Bay of Biscay,
17:10lovely beaches, it's green.
17:12And in the distance, as the morning mist clears,
17:16the mountains reveal themselves.
17:18So they come here, and if they could,
17:21people built houses and made gardens.
17:24I'm going to visit one of those gardens,
17:27which is like the others in principle,
17:30but very different in one important respect.
17:48This is Finca El Cuerto,
17:51and until about 40-odd years ago,
17:55this was just a small holding with no house.
17:58But this house behind me is over 300 years old,
18:03and therein lies the story,
18:05because originally it was situated about 16km from here,
18:10and the garden built up around it and became mature.
18:13And then a mine was opened just nearby,
18:16and the house was literally undermined.
18:19So the owners, naturally enough, decided to move.
18:23But instead of just taking themselves away,
18:26they decided to take the house and the garden with them.
18:39This meant uprooting borders, trees and hedges,
18:44including these magnificent box hedges.
18:47Now, this is 50 years ago, so obviously they've grown,
18:50and they must have cut them back hard to move them,
18:53but they've taken to their new home incredibly well.
18:56I don't think I've ever seen healthier or happier box hedging.
19:04Within these immaculately clipped hedges,
19:07the garden is green and luxuriant in growth,
19:11with magnificent views out to the Picos de Europa mountains
19:15in the distance.
19:18And like the house, it looks as though it has always been here.
19:25One of the fascinating things about this garden to me
19:28is it reminds me of the gardens when I was growing up in the 60s
19:31and starting to garden seriously in the 70s.
19:34Particularly things like the shrubs, immaculately grown here,
19:38in mown grass.
19:40And I like the way also that everything here has a meaning,
19:44has a story.
19:46For example, the two Ilex oaks were brought here, apparently,
19:51as acorns from Dublin, where a member of the family was ambassador.
19:56Planted, and now, of course, they're growing into large trees.
20:00And it does also include these fabulous ferns.
20:05And that is a measure of the climate here, because they're tender.
20:10And it doesn't get too cold in winter, but it is very wet,
20:13which, of course, the ferns love.
20:15So there's a lot of lushness and mildness,
20:17but also in summer, lots of sunshine.
20:19Perfect for gardens.
20:34As a rule, I'm not a great fan of bougainvillea,
20:37but the one on the house is lovely.
20:40And like everything else here, there's a story attached to it.
20:44The original position of the house did not have bougainvillea,
20:47and it wasn't on here when they first re-erected it.
20:51But on a trip to Kenya,
20:54they so admired the depth and intensity of the colour
20:57of the bougainvillea they saw there, they brought back seeds,
21:00and now that has become part of the garden too.
21:14This part of the garden, superficially at least,
21:17looks as though it could be in, I don't know, 100,000 English gardens.
21:22You've got box edges with modern English roses
21:25and herbaceous borders growing happily.
21:28But I'm told that actually perennials of all kinds,
21:32particularly herbaceous perennials, are very unusual in Spain.
21:36People don't really know how to grow them, it doesn't suit the climate,
21:39and they're very hard to get hold of.
21:41So borders like these are absolutely exceptional.
21:45And dominating the garden at the back is a penera,
21:50a typical Asturian granary,
21:53which, like so much else, was moved from the original site.
21:59I talked to Marta Arguelles, the owner's daughter,
22:03who was born the year that her grandfather started the incredible task
22:07of relocating the house and garden.
22:10Can you remember anything about that moving?
22:12Because it must have taken a long time.
22:14I think it took about two years, and I've heard so much stories.
22:18It is an extraordinary story to move a large house.
22:22Yes.
22:23I guess that it's so embedded in your family's story
22:27that you all take it as so natural.
22:29We moved house.
22:31Most people moved to another house.
22:33Yeah.
22:34But you just moved everything.
22:37What was the garden like when you were a small child?
22:40It was simpler.
22:41We've been building it over time,
22:43and my father has grown this great love for gardens,
22:46and it's become more sophisticated.
22:49And in the front of the house,
22:51did they try and replicate what was there before?
22:53They were really sorry to lose the big old trees that had some centuries.
22:57If they could bring something, they did.
22:59What they couldn't bring, they had to say goodbye,
23:01but the things they could save, they chose to save them.
23:04Just everything, anything that came.
23:06Eventually, will you live here? Will this be your house?
23:09I hope so.
23:10And if somebody starts a mine down the road, will you move it?
23:14I'll ask some advice.
23:17But if we've done it once, we can do it twice.
23:23When I left the Finca El Cueto,
23:25driving down small lanes through the countryside,
23:28I couldn't help noticing repeated scallop shell signs,
23:32indicating that even this rural backwater was on the Camino.
23:37And sure enough, I soon came across a group
23:39steadily making their long pilgrimage to Santiago.
23:47On the way, I stopped to climb up to a vantage point
23:50to get a bird's-eye view of this extraordinary landscape
23:53of this relatively little-known part of Spain.
23:57This is a fantastic place to look down on the Asturian coast
24:01and see the way that the green countryside
24:04just goes right up to the water's edge.
24:07But I'm struck by the fact that today everybody I met
24:10commented on how hot it was.
24:12It has been a hot day.
24:14And how that these days are becoming more frequent.
24:17The climate is changing, and that's changing the way they garden,
24:20it's changing the way they live.
24:22And it did cross my mind
24:24that it may be as a result
24:26that the lovely greenness and coolness
24:29that draws so many Spanish people
24:31to get away from the heat in the summer months
24:34may become a thing of the past.
24:36Anyway, it's time to leave Asturia now
24:38because I'm going on to the Basque Country.
24:47I'm heading north-east to Bilbao.
24:50Once the heartland of the country's heavy industry,
24:53this city is now famous
24:55for its Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum,
24:59as well as a highly contentious floral sculpture.
25:12This puppy has sat faithfully guarding the Guggenheim
25:16since 1997.
25:18It's more than 40 feet tall,
25:20and the West Island terrier is covered
25:23with a multi-coloured coat of flowering plants.
25:28Jeff Kuhn's puppy is either famous or notorious,
25:31depending on your point of view,
25:33and I confess that I came here really not expecting to like it.
25:36But to my surprise and delight, I actually rather love it.
25:40I think it's got all the elements that you'd expect
25:44I think it's got all the energy and charm of a real puppy.
25:49And coming from someone who loves dogs, that's high praise.
25:52And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact
25:55it's made out of flowers, and not just any old flowers.
25:58These are annuals, which means that they change from day to day,
26:02they have a very short lifespan,
26:05and that sort of ephemerality gives it life.
26:11Twice a year, in May and October, all the plants are removed
26:16and replaced with new ones with similar colours,
26:19but which are more suitable for that growing season.
26:22So pansies and violas feature strongly for autumn and winter,
26:25with petunias and begonias for the spring and summer.
26:29In all, it takes 38,000 plants for each replanting,
26:34and 20 people 9 days to complete the job.
26:41BIRDS CHIRP
26:46I'm making a day trip back west
26:50to visit a fascinating environmental project
26:53that I've been told about.
26:56I've come to Santander specifically to visit this park.
27:00It's Parque de las Llamas, or Wetland Place, Marshy Place.
27:05It was made in 2007 out of what was then a piece of wasteland.
27:09It had been estuary.
27:10And there were talk of making it into an industrial estate.
27:14But they decided to go with the green option.
27:18And the whole point about it is that it combines
27:21a genuine nature reserve with a really good park for local people,
27:26or at least that is the intention.
27:28And I want to see how that works, or indeed, if it works.
27:33The park has been created on an area that once had been marshland,
27:37and there are still wide swathes of reeds edging the water.
27:44On the upper levels, over 2,500 trees have been planted.
27:48And this natural planting is completely integrated
27:51with the recreational spaces and pathways.
27:56Felipe González is a birdlife conservation expert,
28:00and he worked on the project to restore the water minnows.
28:05Tell me how this conservation area and park began.
28:09What was the plan?
28:10We proposed to the city to create the new green area
28:15in order to put together people and nature,
28:19and to make it more sustainable.
28:22In order to put together people and nature.
28:25So you have a park where people can enjoy
28:28and also you can see many birds all the year.
28:32Are you finding any rare species coming here?
28:35Yeah, actually, our record is 150 species of birds.
28:41And some species like never seen in Spain, only here.
28:46So it's actually a very hot spot for birdwatching.
28:51As well as being a haven for wildlife,
28:54the park also acts as a natural flood zone,
28:57holding water that would otherwise spread into the city.
29:00And this is essential,
29:02as this region is seeing more and more extremes of weather.
29:08Climate change is a challenge, obviously.
29:11Actually, we are planning what kind of trees
29:15we are going to plant in all the city,
29:18because we need plants and trees that resist better the dry season
29:23that are expected to be abnormal in northern Spain.
29:27It seems to me that everybody is benefiting, including nature.
29:32This kind of idea to connect people with nature in cities,
29:36I think it will be the normal way in the future.
29:41Thank you. I hope so.
29:49It's really quiet here.
29:51You can see how this could easily be a nature reserve
29:55surrounded by open country, but it's not.
29:57It's in the middle of a city, and that in itself is extraordinary.
30:01And combined with the fact that they've worked out a way
30:05for nature to be central to the scheme
30:08and to be rich and full of rare creatures
30:12and people to have the park they want.
30:14There are plenty of people walking dogs
30:16or jogging and playing football or whatever.
30:19It's wholly admirable and inspirational.
30:31It's fascinating to see the way that Santander and Bilbao,
30:36with its history of heavy industry,
30:40are transforming themselves into greener cities,
30:43places that are more pleasant for people to live in,
30:46are better for wildlife, and at the same time
30:49trying to adapt to the demands of climate change.
30:52But now I'm leaving the cities
30:56to visit a garden that is deep in the Basque countryside.
31:02The journey inland to this garden is misty and verdant,
31:06with every shade of green,
31:08and confounds all preconceptions of a sun-scorched Spain.
31:13I'm heading for a garden that has been a labour of love
31:16for its designer, maker and devoted gardener,
31:20Inigo Aregui.
31:24I'm arriving at the Lure Garden,
31:27and I know that this was made by a landscape architect
31:30who was a self-confessed plantaholic
31:32who had a moment of inspiration in the middle of the night.
31:35And the result, after years of landscaping and planting,
31:38is, I'm told, a really interesting contemporary garden.
31:42With golden retrievers.
31:47Inigo's inspiration for the layout of the garden
31:50came to him in the middle of one sleepless night,
31:53and it arrived in the shape of an egg.
32:02So that night I went to bed with the egg on my head.
32:05I slept for three hours, and as I woke up,
32:08I drew the plan of what you can visit today.
32:12As we stroll around the garden with his lovely dogs,
32:15Inigo reveals the huge range and variety of planting
32:19that thrives in this lush region.
32:24At the beginning I wanted to work all the time with perennials,
32:28but here in Neuillartum we have a quite humid climate,
32:31and many, many perennials, they didn't work.
32:34So I started introducing some annual plants
32:37to give flower interest during all the season.
32:42And this one is the mirror garden,
32:44surrounded by the yellow border.
32:47Wow.
32:49So does it get cold here?
32:51Oh, you've gone.
32:53Sorry, sorry, sorry.
32:54That's very important.
32:58You know what they want to do.
33:00Do it, go on.
33:01You know what they want to do, no?
33:03Make them happy.
33:04I went for a full...
33:07Come on, Martin, come on, Julia.
33:13Right, they're happy.
33:14Yeah.
33:15Now the mirror effect has gone.
33:17Yeah.
33:18And what are these weeping trees around the edge?
33:20Those are Taxodium distichum pendula.
33:23It's cypress, swan cypress.
33:26Right.
33:27But the weeping variety.
33:30Around the central egg-shaped lawn
33:33are a series of individually themed gardens.
33:39Bananas.
33:40Yeah.
33:41Are going bananas.
33:42Yeah.
33:43They love it.
33:44This is the Japanese banana,
33:46which here it stands very well, the frost.
33:48And this is your big leaf area.
33:50Yeah.
33:51I created this garden for the gunera.
33:53I planted ten plants of gunera.
33:55Ten?
33:56Ten, yeah.
33:57Some tetrapanax, lots of elephant ears.
34:00Yes.
34:01What I have achieved here is like
34:03contrast of different types of greens
34:06and different types of size and form of leaves.
34:10It looks like if you were entering Costa Rica.
34:13We are in the north of Spain
34:15and this gives me a sensation
34:18of being quite in a tropical garden.
34:21So the ferns.
34:23Yeah, this fern collection.
34:25Close to the stream.
34:27Most of the dicksonias I have in the garden
34:30are dicksonias that I found them small
34:33in the garden I had before.
34:35You're always taught that they grow very slowly.
34:38Yeah.
34:39You know, we send it so what's about
34:41two, three centimetres a year at the most.
34:43And I found very, very proud of them.
34:45Yeah, they're lovely.
34:46Because they do really, really well.
34:48Lovely.
34:49And now here, we enter to what I call
34:53the hydrangea maze.
34:55The labyrinth of hydrangeas.
34:57In the Basque Country, they grow very, very well
34:59because we have lots of humidity
35:01and good soil, acid soil.
35:04I'm almost speechless because it's so impressive.
35:06Lead on.
35:07Let's go.
35:11The garden extends to two hectares
35:14or over four and a half acres.
35:17The moon garden was, I think, my favourite.
35:20Huge flat stones are set with silver
35:23and white flowers and foliage.
35:26Flowing grasses and clipped yew
35:28complete the picture
35:30to make a sublime composition.
35:35You laid this garden like an egg.
35:37In the middle of the night after three hours sleep.
35:39Yes.
35:40That's a nice idea.
35:41Have you unravelled the garden
35:43without pause or without changes?
35:47Each of the interior of each space
35:50has developed as I was working.
35:52My relationship in that time started to go bad.
35:55I divorced and I break down.
35:58At the beginning, I tried to control everything.
36:00After two years that I have changed
36:04and now I accept everything.
36:06What strikes me about that story
36:08other than the process of acceptance
36:11and the wisdom that you can't control everything
36:14is that the garden,
36:16as you become happier with yourself,
36:18the garden becomes happier.
36:20There is a kind of connection, isn't there?
36:22Absolutely.
36:23Finally, I'm intrigued with the idea
36:26of a Spanish garden.
36:29Is there such a thing?
36:30I think there is not a Spanish garden.
36:33The north is very, very wet.
36:35The middle is dry.
36:36The Mediterranean is another climate.
36:38In each area, the landscape is different
36:41and the gardens, at the end,
36:42relate to the landscape of the area.
36:45Is there a Basque garden?
36:47This one.
37:07They say that amateurs borrow,
37:09but professionals steal.
37:11And Inigo has confessed that he's taken ideas
37:15and methods and approaches from a number of sources.
37:19But he's not giving them back.
37:22He's possessed them.
37:23There are very few gardens I've been to
37:25that are so dominated by the character
37:28and personality of its maker.
37:30And very few gardens, actually,
37:32that have so many different aspects to them.
37:34It's overflowing with colour, with form.
37:38Even the greens really come at you
37:41almost as an assault to the senses.
37:43So it takes some digesting.
37:45But I love it, and I think the highest compliment
37:48that I can ever pay to a garden
37:50is it's one of those gardens
37:51that I want to steal from and possess myself.
38:01I've returned to Bilbao
38:02to catch one of Spain's impressive
38:04high-speed intercity trains.
38:09MUSIC
38:14I've now travelled right across the North Atlantic coast of Spain,
38:17and this train journey is going to take me to the Mediterranean
38:21and Spain's second city, Barcelona.
38:27We left Bilbao, what, four hours ago now?
38:31And I've got another couple of hours
38:33before we get to Barcelona for the next part of this trip.
38:37And travelling through these endless tracks of countryside,
38:41often staggeringly beautiful,
38:43you just realise how huge this country is.
38:50The journey is almost 500km,
38:53and as we make our way east,
38:55the climate and landscape start to change dramatically.
39:00While the north-west is wet and temperate,
39:03Barcelona and the east coast of Spain
39:05has a Mediterranean climate,
39:07so it's much drier and warmer in both summer and winter.
39:20Barcelona has been an important trading port since Roman times.
39:25It's the capital of Catalonia.
39:31And, like the Basque region,
39:33the people are fiercely proud of their cultural identity,
39:36with a large percentage supporting independence from Spain.
39:41It's also famous for its architecture and gardens,
39:45with much of its life taking place on the streets and boulevards.
39:52So, I head first to the famous Green Promenade
39:56that runs along the line of a river
39:58that once ran through the centre of the city.
40:02This is Las Ramblas,
40:04where traditionally people promenade up and down
40:07and show themselves off,
40:09but for the moment there's a sense of Barcelona awakening.
40:12People are going to work, the cafes are opening,
40:15the chairs are being unstacked, the joggers are going by.
40:18And I notice immediately how warm it is here compared to Bilbao.
40:22It's a good 10 degrees warmer.
40:24And my guess is that these plane trees are not just here to look good,
40:29but cast a very, very necessary shade.
40:41These boulevards were intended so that the citizens of Barcelona
40:45could stroll and socialise in the cool of the evenings.
40:49However, they are now rather more of a busy tourist destination.
40:54The Ramblas is famous for its florists.
40:57This store is run by Carolina,
40:59whose family have been selling flowers on exactly this spot
41:03for four generations.
41:07Hola. Hola.
41:11In terms of natural flowers, what are most popular here?
41:14What are your best sellers?
41:17Sometimes.
41:22When people go to visit other people,
41:25do they take flowers as a present?
41:29Yeah.
41:30Yeah.
41:44Yes.
41:46You make those?
41:48You make this?
41:52Well, thank you. Thank you very much indeed.
41:54It looks very beautiful.
42:01OK. OK. OK.
42:12Barcelona is a city of parks and green spaces.
42:16These act as the essential lungs for the residents,
42:19but also play a central role in the social life of the city.
42:25Because most people in Barcelona live in flats,
42:28the parks become doubly important.
42:30And on a Sunday morning, the Ciutadella Park is full of people
42:34walking, picnicking,
42:37and just enjoying being outside with green all around them.
42:41The one thing that is really noticeable to someone coming from England
42:45is that everybody who's sitting down in any way
42:49is finding the shade rather than the sun.
42:59I'm now visiting an award-winning commercial building.
43:03It was built in the 1970s and uses planting in a dramatic way
43:07to provide shade to those who work inside it.
43:10This was one of the first sustainable buildings in the world,
43:15and it revolutionised the way that we use and think
43:18about commercial buildings.
43:29The plants were carefully chosen so light could shine through in winter,
43:34as well as providing shade in the summer months.
43:39The planting scheme is based on a double layer,
43:42with the lower level filled with training plants,
43:45visible from the outside of the building,
43:47and an upper level containing more vertical planting
43:50that is best seen from the inside.
43:53Enrique Molinero is in charge of the planting scheme
43:57and he explained to me just how unusual this building was
44:00at the time it was built.
44:02So you see, here in Barcelona,
44:04there was a whole lot of people that was coming to work,
44:07and so the construction became very dense.
44:11All these green areas that we had lost in the city,
44:14they said, why don't we build them into the building in vertical?
44:19So they did this vegetation waterfall that we can see here.
44:24It was essentially to replace the lost green
44:28that all these buildings had.
44:30Has it been the inspiration for more green buildings in Barcelona?
44:34Yes, it has.
44:35So I would say that this iconic building where we are right now,
44:39a lot of the buildings that we are seeing these days
44:42have their initial conception in this building.
44:45And do the people who use it like it?
44:47Do local people enjoy working in the building?
44:50Yeah, actually, you know, I have some friends in the building
44:53and they always tell me, Enrique, you did a very nice work.
44:57This is a wonderful building that you have there.
45:09There are scores, if not hundreds of buildings like this
45:12around the world now, clad more dramatically in plants.
45:16But remember, this was conceived nearly 50 years ago.
45:19It was way ahead of its time.
45:21It inspired others.
45:23It is still relevant and efficient environmentally and ecologically.
45:28Still half the plants are still here
45:30and still it is a lovely building to work in.
45:37Barcelona really has committed to greening the city at every level,
45:41whether corporate buildings, public parks, streets
45:44or balconies and roof terraces.
45:47And I'm now off to see a private roof terrace
45:50belonging to one of the city's oldest residents.
45:56This is a slightly unlikely location for my next garden.
46:00I've only just heard about this, but I want to see it.
46:03Because it's a roof garden dedicated to produce,
46:07a kind of allotment on a roof.
46:09And if that wasn't enough, it was created and is still tended
46:13by a man who is now 100 years old.
46:21MUSIC CONTINUES
46:31This allotment, up above the city streets,
46:34is entirely the work of Juan Carula Figueres.
46:38He and his family only survived the famine years of the Civil War
46:42and its aftermath by growing and eating their own food.
46:47What's so interesting about this roof garden is what it's for
46:51and how it was made to that end.
46:53Because when they constructed the building,
46:55they had to reinforce the surface
46:58and then brought in ten inches of soil
47:01and over a large area like this, that's a lot.
47:04And this is no luxurious roof garden to be surrounded by plants.
47:09This is to produce as much as possible
47:14of sort of basic ingredients that can be stored throughout the year.
47:17So there are potatoes, lots of them.
47:19And the vine has something like 100 kilos of grapes to make wine.
47:26And, you know, it's not glamorous.
47:28Everything is geared towards productivity in a simple way.
47:33And it is a piece of the Catalan countryside
47:37here in the middle of a busy city.
47:40Juan still retains an undimmed passion for growing organic produce.
48:11From the outset,
48:13Juan has followed the farming methods that he learned as a boy
48:17and those organic production techniques are now widely used.
48:21Juan is equally proud of his decorative plants.
48:41There is another project, at the edge of the city,
48:45that also uses long-standing methods of growing vegetables.
48:53The Monastery of Pedralbes is famous
48:56for its magnificent three-tiered 14th-century cloister
49:00and now has a garden that represents the history of the city.
49:10It replicates the way that the nuns who lived here
49:15in the medieval period tended it.
49:18And like nearly every monastery, they grew their own vegetables and herbs,
49:22particularly medicinal herbs, and were largely self-sufficient.
49:25But by the end of the 20th century, that had completely fallen into disarray.
49:30However, it's recently been lovingly restored,
49:33and not just made good,
49:35but taken back to the period before the discovery of the Americas.
49:41Maria Antonia Marti-Escayol is the museum's curator
49:45and she tells me that everything is grown following methods
49:48taken from medieval manuscripts found in the monastery's archives.
49:53Let's go in. Yes. Can we go in? Yes.
49:58Parsley. So that's parsley, that's familiar enough. Yes.
50:02And this is rocket. Rocket salad, yes.
50:05I love this. And they benefit from each other.
50:09And this is your cress, is it? Yes.
50:11See, this is not cress as we grow it. Maybe it's a local variety.
50:14Yeah, let me just have a taste.
50:16Very fine leaf, isn't it?
50:19It's spicy. Yes, very spicy. Mmm. Yes.
50:23So the rocket and the cress are both quite spicy.
50:27The parsley, which is very good for your blood. Mm-hm.
50:31It's a nice mix. Mm-hm. Delicious.
50:34And it's very healthy.
50:37This is a medieval technique.
50:39The manuscripts tell us to grow this interplanted,
50:43the clover interplanted with the cabbage, to attract the insects.
50:48That's the clover, there. Yes.
50:52And you're growing leeks around the outside as a little hedge.
50:55Yes. It's another combination recommended in the manuscripts.
50:59And in the next year, these crops will be planted there.
51:04Rotation. Yes, rotation.
51:08They showed me how the medieval irrigation system worked.
51:13Using tools they would have used hundreds of years ago,
51:16the water is directed exactly where it's needed.
51:28It's both a very simple and beautifully clever system.
51:32It works. I had no idea that you could make the water so specific
51:37and control it so exactly using such basic elements.
51:42Fascinating.
51:44And also to think that this was worked out 500 years ago.
51:54In medieval times, many monasteries were dedicated
51:57to the study of medicinal plants
52:00and developing herbal cures.
52:03So I was also given a display of making a recipe for an ointment
52:08using herbs gathered from the garden
52:10and the same simple but infinitely careful methods
52:14as had been practised down the centuries.
52:23It's finished. Beautiful.
52:25OK. Can I touch it? Yes.
52:31And what do I use it for? What is it for?
52:43And to be clear, it's yarrow, Achillea milfoil...
52:48Yeah.
52:50..oil, almond oil or olive oil...
52:53Olive oil.
52:55..and beeswax.
52:57One of these is for you.
52:59It's very kind. Thank you. Gracias.
53:02I've got yarrow at home.
53:04I've got bees, so I've got beeswax.
53:06And I can get almond oil or olive oil,
53:09or if they used to use animal fat,
53:11I could get lard or pig fat or goose fat, depending on my whim.
53:16I can make this. I will make this.
53:18Muchas gracias. Gracias.
53:21My skin will be as smooth as a baby's bottom.
53:27I love the way that gardens can bring history alive,
53:32whether it's to a group of small schoolchildren
53:35or experienced historians,
53:37because what you have here is a clear window into the past.
53:46The last two gardens I'm visiting are both public parks,
53:50and although built nearly 100 years apart and looking very different,
53:54share similar roots.
53:56They were both built by architects, born and raised in the city,
54:01and both feature Mediterranean planting.
54:05This is the Botanic Garden,
54:07which was made on the Bear Hillside next to the Olympic Park.
54:11The area had been home to a deprived migrant community
54:14before it was regenerated to create the 1992 Olympic Village.
54:20It was conceived, made and planted in the 1990s,
54:25and the decision was taken to use entirely Mediterranean plants.
54:29Now, in horticultural terms, that doesn't just mean
54:32the plants from countries surrounding the Mediterranean itself,
54:35but also plants from South Africa, Australasia, Chile and California.
54:42The collection of over 2,000 Mediterranean species,
54:46such as the spiny euphorbias, the palms and oleanders,
54:51could not be more different from the gardens that I was visiting
54:55on the other side of the country.
55:00But by far the most emblematic plant of the Mediterranean
55:04is the olive tree.
55:06It can live to be over 2,000 years old
55:08and they become these lovely, gnarled specimens like the two here.
55:13But they play a vital role in Spanish economy
55:16because Spain is the biggest producer in the world of olive oil.
55:25A really significant development of the Botanic Garden
55:28came when Bet Figueres became involved.
55:32Now, she was a landscape architect
55:34who added in the landscaping, the placing of plants,
55:38and stopped it becoming a catalogue of plants,
55:42and instead you get these areas with little paths and walkways
55:46and different gradations which make you feel
55:49as though you're in the Mediterranean countryside,
55:52and that brings it alive.
55:56Now, sadly, Bet died far too early in 2010,
56:00but her work here in the Botanic Garden in Barcelona, her home city,
56:05is still really important.
56:08My journey ends with the work of Antoni Gaudí,
56:16the most famous Catalan and perhaps Spanish architect of all.
56:22He originally designed Parc Güell in 1900
56:26as an exclusive property development.
56:28It was modelled on the English garden movement
56:31and is located in a district known as Muntanya Pelada,
56:36peeled or bare mountain, with spectacular views out to the sea.
56:42The development was never completed,
56:45and all that remains are a few tantalising details
56:49and this one house that was completed and is still occupied today.
56:57I began this journey on the western side of Spain in Santiago,
57:02and now that I've come across to the Mediterranean,
57:05I've literally run out of land.
57:17I'm overawed by the sheer vastness and diversity of Spain.
57:24The sunshine of the Mediterranean islands and Andalusia
57:28to the startling harshness of the landscape
57:32and climate of the central region.
57:35And the rich lushness that I found in the Atlantic north
57:40all means that Spain's gardens also have a huge range and variety.
57:49And although its long history is obviously an important factor
57:53in the evolution of Spain's gardens,
57:55the thing that interested me most was the way that modern designers
58:00have made beautiful and fascinating gardens
58:03whilst dealing with the harsh realities of climate change.
58:08And the result is a picture not just of Spain's gardens,
58:13but this fascinating country itself.
58:17Dramatic.
58:20Proud.
58:23Complex.
58:26But always compelling.
58:34Inspiring.
58:37Inspiring.
58:40Inspiring.
58:43Inspiring.
58:46Inspiring.
58:49Inspiring.
58:52Inspiring.
58:55Inspiring.
58:58Inspiring.
59:01Inspiring.
59:03Inspiring.
59:04Inspiring.
59:05Inspiring.