Diarmuid Gavin on why he enjoys his indoor-outdoor space 

The renowned garden designer tells us how his best bargain was also his biggest extravagance and why he'd like to be invisible

Garden designer Diarmuid Gavin. Picture: Andres Poveda

Where is your happy space at home?

I am in my happy space now, upstairs in my glass-walled studio where I do all my work from.

It leads on to a veranda and it’s great.

Diarmuid's studio is an 'indoor-outdoor' space.

We have a field behind our home and the Sugarloaf mountains are just over to the right.

It’s green, and we have very pleasant neighbours.

The sun streams in here to my studio in the afternoon.

I live in Wicklow, near Bray. Although usually at this time of year we would head to Ballinskelligs, in County Kerry, to Cill Rialaig, the artists’ retreat founded by Noelle Campbell-Sharp. We go and stay with Noelle.

My studio is a place I rarely used before lockdown but one that I rarely left during lockdown

What is your favourite room?

My studio, because it’s an indoor-outdoor space. I play music, draw, listen to podcasts and go on Instagram here.

It is a place I rarely came into before lockdown but that I rarely left during lockdown.

What sort of music do you enjoy listening to?

Everything from Bucks Fizz to Bossa Nova; pop, jazz, old standards — really, anything.

And I like listening to my wife [Justine] downstairs when she’s playing the piano.

How would you describe your home/interiors?

I would describe it as a place where nothing ever gets finished because I have so many plans and dreams and so many pictures of what I want it to be.

My studio is pared-back, with Scandi plywood.

I have an old stereo, pictures, lots of books — everything is propped up on books — but there are no books with big words, they’re all gardening and design books!

Garden designer Diarmuid Gavin. Picture: Andres Poveda

What was the best bargain ever for you?

Outside, the balcony on the veranda [Diarmuid’s home has a two-storey wraparound veranda] is made up of 13 cast-iron columns.

These were made in 1895. I got them for €100 in a reclamation yard.

The columns were from the old Jervis Street Hospital, so they’ve made it from there to my veranda.

I grow plants on them — they look like some colonial structure.

The veranda at Diarmuid's home helps bring the outdoors in.

What has been the biggest extravagance in your residence?

The columns on my veranda cost me €100 so the structures were cheap, but the project was expensive.

It was hard to get the columns here. I had to build a road through the field, during the snow eight or nine years ago, just to get them to my house.

Garden designer Diarmuid Gavin, pictured with his dog Bowie. Picture: Andres Poveda 

What is your favourite household chore?

I quite like picking up dog poo. I don’t get queasy about such things, it doesn’t bother me at all.

And what’s your least favourite task?

Ironing.

Are you a DIY whizz?

I am not good at DIY at all. I can dig and I can plant — that is my complete skillset.

When it comes to DIY, I always have to get someone to do things — usually it’s my wife. 

She’s better at DIY than me — usually she’d be up a ladder or chair looking at me in the most dismissive way.

What is the best advice you got at home growing up?

My parents were very hard workers. I was brought up very mannerly, so to be polite and to stand up straight and present myself well was the best advice I got — and it’s helped me so much over the years with garden-design clients.

How do you feel home is more important than ever in these strange times?

Because we have retreated to our homes they have become our safe places.

Families have been battening down the hatches and appreciating what we have.

As a parent and business owner, I am always looking at ways to do my part for the planet

What household/garden advice would you give others?

As a parent and business owner I am always looking at ways to do my part for the planet, be it installing energy-saving lighting in my clients’ gardens or looking to make small changes around the house that make all the difference, like turning my thermostat down and collecting rainwater for using in the garden.

Smart meters are another small step we can all take to do the right thing without much effort.

I have a bath out on the veranda

Did you enjoy the great outdoors/garden more in the past year?

Yes, I had a very distant relationship with my garden up to now so I was able to get to know it now more than ever — sometimes even sleeping out there on a mattress!

Mind you, I have a bath out there on the veranda. I use it for plants.

What would your superpower be?

I would like to be invisible because I could get up to all kinds of mischief.

• Garden designer Diarmuid Gavin recently teamed up with Electric Ireland to launch its Home Electric+ plans for homes with smart meters installed. The plans aim to help customers learn more about their energy usage, decrease their overall electricity usage and reduce their bills by availing of cheaper electricity at different times of the day
• See www.electricireland.ie/smart-meters
  #brightertogether