One Of Nature's Gentlemen

Bolton’s Roy Lancaster has crossed continents hunting for rare plants. Now he has told his life story and his love of the natural world.

- Roger Borrell

YOU would expect a man who has been on plant hunting expeditions to remote corners of China to have a keen sense of geography. But Roy Lancaster, probably the most respected horticulturalist of his generation, also has strong views concerning matters much closer to home.

‘I was born in Farnworth but that’s because the hospital was there. I’m a Bolton lad through and through,’ he says. ‘That makes me a proud Lancastrian. I don’t hold with all that Greater Manchester nonsense.’

Like all good gardeners, Roy has never forgotten his roots and his early days as the son of cotton mill workers growing up in a terrace in Astley Bridge, which forms a fascinating part of his new book, My Life with Plants.

Reading his story, it’s impossible not to hear that wonderful Lancastrian burr resonate from the pages – it’s an accent that has captivated and inspired radio and television audiences for generations.

It certainly hasn’t been dulled by decades living in Hampshire with his wife, Sue, and the years – he’s in his 80th – most definitely haven’t taken the edge off his memory. He speaks passionately about his home county, his love of places such as Silverdale and Ainsdale, and of a childhood full of happiness that allowed him to run wild with his pals across the Lancashire countryside.

‘We would escape whenever we could,’ he says. ‘On weekends and light summer evenings we would go off to what we called the Land of the Lost. I think that name came from watching Tarzan films at the Belle cinema.’