Angela Scanlon touts gardening as treatment to the ‘insanity’ of pandemic

TV presenter Angela Scanlon said gardening could be a cure for the “madness that goes on outside” during the pandemic.

The 37-year-old Irish star said she was “so grateful” that she had a small outdoor space to hang out with family and sometimes have dinner.

Scanlon, who shares a daughter with her husband, eco-entrepreneur Roy Horgan, hosts Your Garden Made Perfect on BBC Two – which uses virtual reality technology to show homeowners the true potential of their gardens.

She told the PA News Agency, “When you are not allowed to go, there is a real sense of peace, escape and refuge that a garden provides and comfort.

“So, yes, there is a ton of amazing design that will bow your mind and hopefully inspire, but there is also something wildly comforting about it, especially when it’s madness outside and you have no control over what happens.

“To be able to look into a garden and over the course of a year, like this year, literally see a change before your eyes and know that it will actually go on no matter what.”

Commenting on her personal life, she added: “We have a small garden and to be honest, I felt so, so grateful for it every day.

“Just to be able to open the door and go out and sit there and have the paddling pool outside when it was hot with my daughter in the summer and we often literally took our kitchen table outside because we obviously had nowhere to go have no garden furniture.

“We felt like we were having dinner in a special place.

“That became the norm. Instead of something you would do every now and then, I actually cooked dinner and went outside and it was really, really nice.

“The value, the benefit for head and soul is amazing. So I’ll never take this for granted again. It is this little oasis of calm and tranquility. “She has been married to Horgan since 2014 and they welcomed daughter Ruby Ellen Horgan in 2018.

• Your Garden Made Perfect will air on February 4th at 8pm on BBC Two.