Belsay Hall head gardener Jo Hindhaugh follows in her father’s footsteps

May 9 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

Environment Editor Tony Henderson on the glories of North East gardens.

THERE is a good deal of family history invested in one of English Heritage’s showpiece North East attractions. But in this case it is not the wealthy individuals who owned Belsay Hall in Northumberland over the years.

It is, rather, the father and daughter combination which has nurtured the nationally important gardens at Belsay.

For 18 years, Paul Harrigan was head gardener at Belsay until his retirement in 2004.

Now daughter Jo, 38, is following in his footsteps.

Paul’s career at Belsay was remarkable , given that he spent 20 years as a miner at Ellington Colliery.

But he was always a keen vegetable gardener and top exhibition leek grower who bred the Jumbo strain.

He won the CIU Northumberland and Durham leek show title three times and held two leek world records.

His Jumbo was the first to crack the 200 cubic inch barrier for two leeks, and one of his specimens weighed in at 12lbs 2ozs to feature in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s heaviest leek.

Jo, who lives at Linton in Northumberland, has inherited her father’s love for plants.

At the moment she is particularly pleased with Belsay’s rose border on the Magnolia Terrace.