Favourite thing

Kim Wilde, the eighties pop singer turned horticulturist, is now the resident garden designer on BBC 1’s new daytime series, Garden Invaders, which starts next April

Although I’m passionate about everything in my garden, one of my favourite things has to be this wooden seat. It was a wedding present from our friend Ray, which was made by Dennis, a local craftsman who is a talented chainsaw artist.
He created the seat from the trunk of a chestnut tree with his chain saw and, with Ray’s help, brought it here on the back of a lorry and dumped it against a wall on my patio. It’s so heavy we’ll never be able to move it but I don’t suppose we’ll ever want to.
Me and my husband Hal were married in the local village church. It was a wonderful day and many of the residents in the sheltered accommodation by the church came out to wish us well. At the time I didn’t know them but since I’ve been working with Ray on a communal garden next to the church they’ve all become old friends.
When I look back at my wedding photos, I can now see all the faces who’ve become friends since that day and when I sit on my special seat, it brings the memories flooding back.
For our first anniversary Hal asked the local farrier to brand our initials and the date of our marriage, September 1, 1996, into the wood. We’ve since added the initials of our children, Harry and Rose, to the bench so it’s a real reminder of many happy moments in my life.