The visit was part of a weekend of celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of Coleman’s Garden Centre, where David will host a number of live presentations on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 October along with fellow ITV presenter Frances Tophill.
The guests met up with the award-winning Friends of Antrim Castle Gardens before embarking on a tour of the historic grounds. They then had the opportunity to see the Platinum Jubilee Clockwork Garden, Large Parterre, Her Ladyship’s Pleasure Garden, the Long Canals and Clotworthy House.
Both visitors also heard about Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council’s acclaimed ‘Botanical Borough’ initiative, a concept adopted by the Council to provide a clear vision to deliver award winning open spaces, promote biodiversity and sustainability as well as help drive the growth of tourism and economic development within the Borough.
Applauding Coleman’s for sixty years in business, Deputy Mayor Cllr. Kinnear said:
Six decades of valuable contribution to our Borough’s economy, plus generations of employment is an incredible achievement. I’m delighted the Council is part of these celebrations which are a huge milestone for this extremely popular gardening establishment.
Antrim and Newtownabbey is well known for world-class parks and for our passionate belief in the value of beautiful green spaces for our residents and visitors.
Our recently announced £5.4M investment in upgrades at Jordanstown Loughshore Park and Hazelbank highlights the Councils commitment to deliver a Botanical Borough, which will continue to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to our region.
I would like to congratulate Coleman’s on this significant achievement and I wish them every success for the future.
Richard Fry MD of Coleman’s added:
One of the most established names in gardening in Northern Ireland, Coleman’s Garden Centre has built its reputation in offering high-quality nursery stock and sundries to Northern Ireland's gardeners. The garden centre supplies everything for gardens including trees, shrubs, bedding plants, compost, bark, pots, chemicals, seeds, bulbs, tools and garden furniture.
The name ‘Coleman’s’ has been associated with the horticultural business in Northern Ireland for almost 70 years. From humble beginnings, the Coleman family business blossomed from a nursery wholesaler to eventually in the early 1960s purchasing the existing site and commencing trade as a garden centre in the 1980s.
The garden centre has now become a significant visitor attraction and currently attracts over 400 coach trips to the Borough from across Northern Ireland and beyond.
During David’s visit to the Borough he also met up with a number of other horticultural enthusiasts, including Tidy Randalstown who showed him around their Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Elevation Garden on the Viaduct and students from the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) at their Antrim Campus.
Please visit https://colemansgardencentre.co.uk/news/60celebration/ for further details about 60th anniversary events at Coleman’s.
Love Your Garden star David Domoney talks horticulture with Friends of Antrim Castle Gardens during a visit to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Coleman’s Garden Centre, Templepatrick.