I must admit that while I do love gardening and take pride in my cucumbers and chillies every year, there are some aspects that are absolutely back breaking and take many hours of blood, sweat and tears on a regular basis.

Many people think that gardens are relaxing and they can be – as long as you keep on top of the regular hard work.

Just mowing the huge lawn is a task that can take several hours and has to be done on a regular basis in the summer. Three to four hours – and that is on the ride-on mower – just mowing and strimming the edges and then there are usually two to three trips down to the green tip to get rid of the cuttings.

Then there are the other jobs that are just plain hard work, such as cutting the hedges all around the property, many of which involve precariously climbing a ladder while trying not to drop the petrol cutter which seems to weigh a ton. Then there are the autumn leaves which fill several ton bags.

I think sometimes that surely there has to be more to life than this constant work in the garden, but as I am sitting here gazing out at the lovely lawn, I also think that those long hours are worth it.