Toby Neale Buckland (born 11 October 1969) is an English

gardener A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner supple ...

TV presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, best known for being the main presenter from 2008-10 of BBC's long running flagship gardening programme '' Gardeners' World''. In 2008 Buckland won RHS Gold and Best in show for his Ethical Garden at Gardeners' World Live. In 2009 he won the Environmental Award from the Garden Media Guild for a Gardeners' World Special on peat in gardening. In October 2011, Buckland launched an online plant nursery, Toby Buckland Nurseries, based at

Powderham Castle Powderham Castle is a fortified manor house situated within the parish and former manor of Powderham, within the former hundred of Exminster, Devon, about south of the city of Exeter and mile (0.4 km) north-east of the village o ...

in Devon.

Biography and education

Born in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal c ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, Buckland was brought up in the coastal towns of

Dawlish Dawlish is an English seaside resort town and civil parish in Teignbridge on the south coast of Devon, from the county town of Exeter and from the larger resort of Torquay. Its 2011 population of 11,312 was estimated at 13,355 in 2019. It is t ...

and

Kingswear Kingswear is a village and civil parish in the South Hams area of the English county of Devon. The village is located on the east bank of the tidal River Dart, close to the river's mouth and opposite the small town of Dartmouth. It lies withi ...

. He trained as a nurseryman at Blyth's Devon Nursery and later Whetman's in Devon before studying

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

, first at Bicton College,

Budleigh Salterton Budleigh Salterton is a seaside town on the coast in East Devon, England, south-east of Exeter. It lies within the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and forms much of the electoral ward of Budleigh, whose ward population at ...

, Devon and later Hadlow College of Horticulture and Agriculture, Hadlow, Kent where he trained in Landscape and Amenity management. During that time he spent a year as a horticultural trainee at the University of Cambridge Botanic Garden as a woodland supervisor. Buckland opened a nursery at Powderham Castle, located in Devon, until a few years ago, now he and his wife hold a Garden festival there every year in April/May

Television

Buckland's first job in TV was in 1996 as a horticultural researcher for Brian Lapping Associates working on Channel 4's ''Garden Party''. In 1998 he then joined the Granada Breeze channel as a gardening presenter which led to TV roles designing and building gardens on shows including ''Home Front in the Garden'', ''Real Wrecks'', Carol Vorderman's '' Better Homes'' on ITV and

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins ...

's ''Garden Magic''. He took over from

Monty Don Montagu Denis Wyatt Don (born George Montagu Don; 8 July 1955) is a British horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer who is best known as the lead presenter of the BBC gardening television series '' Gardeners' World''. Born in Germany and rai ...

as the main presenter on the BBC flagship gardening programme '' Gardeners' World'' in August 2008. The format of the programme changed in various respects. In December 2010, the BBC announced that they would not be renewing Buckland's contract. Three years after recovering from a stroke, Monty Don returned as lead presenter of the show in March 2011.BBC - Gardeners' World - Presenters
/ref> On 31 December 2010 he appeared on BBC One's '' Celebrity Mastermind'' answering questions on ''

Father Ted ''Father Ted'' is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4. It aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May 1998, including ...

'' (scoring 12 with 1 Pass) and 22 overall with 2 more Passes, coming fourth. He donated his fee to the memorial garden which he designed for 45 Commando Royal Marines. In May 2011 he appeared as a presenter of the BBC's coverage of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (No ...

Chelsea Flower Show The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the ''Great Spring Show'',Phil Clayton, ''The Great Temple Show'' in ''The Garden'' 2008, p.452, The Royal Horticultural Society is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural ...

. In 2013, he presented two episodes of '' Great British Garden Revival''.

Radio Presenting

Toby Buckland hosts a gardening radio show, on the BBC radio Devon channel, on it people call in with various gardening questions, while they also play games and music.

Other projects

Buckland has supported a variety of charities including Perennial, Greenfingers, Thrive and Hospiscare. He has recently designed a memorial garden for

45 Commando Royal Marines 45 Commando Royal Marines (pronounced "four-five commando") is a battalion sized unit of the British Royal Marines and subordinate unit within 3 Commando Brigade 3 Commando Brigade (3 Cdo Bde), previously called the 3rd Special Service Brigad ...

. Toby also runs a garden festival with his wife, Lisa Buckland, at Powderham Castle, Exeter.

Bibliography

Buckland has written a number of books, including: * * * * * * BBC Gardeners' World Flowers: Planning and Planting for Continuous Colour April 2011 BBC Books ,

References

External links

* *
Official Toby Buckland Rated People Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckland, Toby 1969 births Living people Mass media people from Exeter English television presenters English gardeners English garden writers