Joy Heffernan’s garden in Balderstone is a living history of her family’s life, from the eight-acre wood to her beloved quince trees

DESCRIBE YOUR GARDEN

It’s very well stocked with lots of colourful shrubs and it curves around our home.

The house was previously farm labourers’ cottages and when we moved in 50 years ago. But my late husband, Charles, who was a pathologist at the Infirmary, and I changed all that. We turned a farmer’s field next to the house into an eight-acre wood for local people to enjoy.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE GARDEN?

I’m constantly experimenting. I do trials for Gardening Which? magazine. They send me seeds and I plant them and report on their progress.

I’m always looking for ways to promote conservation. I collect rain water in barrels so I don’t need the hosepipe. I make my own compost and hardly throw anything away. I have a fruit cage — to keep out the birds and squirrels —for redcurrants, whitecurrants, blackcurrants which I freeze and later use for making fruit compote. I also grow potatoes, sweetcorn, raspberies and red cabbage.

WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF GARDENING?

I love to be surrounded by colour. England is a green land and I enjoy looking out at the beautiful trees, but it is not only about the beauty.

I am president of the Friends of Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery and I organise garden parties to raise funds. My son Seamus, who is a music producer, has also brought musicians here to relax in the garden, the folk singer Peggy Seegar really enjoyed it here. My garden is a big part of my life and it keeps me fit.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FEATURE AND WHY?

There are two quince trees where we scattered the ashes of my late husband. Whenever my grandchildren come to visit they always say, ‘We’re just going to have a little chat with Grandad’. The wood is like a living history, seeing all those trees grow from saplings over 50 years has been wonderful. There’s also a beautiful oak which one of my sons planted when he was at school. They conjure up beautiful memories.

HOW MUCH HAS BEEN SPENT ON THE GARDEN?

Ooh, thousands in the 50 years we have been here. We employed someone to plant the first lot of trees in the woods and then we received a grant from the Ministry of Agriculture to plant the rest. Their stipulation was that we could only plant native trees, oak and ash, but no sycamore, as they are imported, and no conifers. The Ribchester Museum filmed a video here to portray a typically English wood in Roman England.

HAVE YOU SUFFERED ANY GARDEN CATASTROPHES?

Yes, I’m plagued by deer. They ring all my trees — they eat the bark and it kills the tree. They also get into the garden and eat my plants and shrubs. Sometimes they just sneak and poke their heads over the hedge which can be a little off-putting.

TOP GARDENING TIPS

Work with what you have. In the North West it is cold and wet so don’t choose exotic plants. Instead choose Rhodedendrons, Azaleas and Crane’s Bill - proper geraniums not the ones that you see at shows. They grow everywhere and slugs don’t like them.