Gardening star Diarmuid Gavin sees Florida as key to a happy holiday

Famous gardener Diarmuid Gavin reveals his favourite holiday destinations.

My childhood holidays were spent all over Ireland, particularly Cork and Kerry around the south west.

But one that sticks in my mind for a sad reason was going to Ballymoney in Antrim.

We were on a caravan holiday when I heard the adults talking very seriously the Troubles had started and we packed up and came home.

My parents lived in London for five years and I remember going to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard and standing outside Downing Street.

And I got my first taste of being abroad with family holidays in Malaga and Fuengirola.

I think it was important to my parents that we were the first family from our area to hop on a plane and get away.

But as an adult Key West in Florida is somewhere that has been very special to me.

For the past 15 years before we had our daughter, Eppie if I had a book to write then my wife Justine and I would go there for a month and be inspired.

So it was lovely to get back there at Christmas as a family.

In fact, it was a very extended family holiday as the in-laws and kids were all there.

There is just one main street and very little traffic coming into town.

Everyone goes around on bicycles and there’s a big artistic community.

Another place I love in the States is Venice Beach in California.

We took a house one summer and it was just extraordinary. I loved the Bohemian lifestyle, the hobos on the beach and the contrast with the madness of Hollywood.

I did some filming in Marrakesh with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen for the Home Front programme and we went back out there for a family holiday last June.

We had an overnight train journey to Tangier and crossed over Spain to Gibraltar.

But at the moment I’m combining work with being in a lovely location, Villefranche in the south of France.

It’s 20 minutes outside of Nice, which is obviously quite spectacular.

We do a lot of gardens in the area and I’m hoping, later in the summer, we will all be able to get out and turn it into a proper holiday.

Diarmuid Gavin has teamed up with DIY giants Wickes after they commissioned a poll which revealed that more than half of us are unsure of what to do in the garden. In a bid to help, Diarmuid has produced a series of handy help videos which will be available on the Wickes YouTube channel.