Everything you see I have created myself

Christopher Good is used to being watched but this month sees him centrestage in a one-man production that's destined to bring in quite a different audience.

A resident actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, with leading roles in countless films, West End plays and TV dramas to his credit, the gardens at his Titley Mill home are to become his very own personal stage.

On Saturday, June 14, and Sunday, June 15, between 2pm and 6pm, the gardens, which he has redesigned himself, will be open to the public to raise funds for the Theatrical Guild, a charity set up to provide help to all connected with the professional theatre, from backstage and on-stage to front-of-house.

He is being accompanied in his efforts by a host of renowned actresses who are joining him to serve teas to visitors and set up stalls of plants and produce.

The weekend will offer an enchanting tour of a garden within an orchard, organic vegetable patch, thriving bog garden and a formal area built to complement the house.

A theme running through the area is climbing rose bushes, which Christopher feels are the essence of sentiment, sensitivity and beauty.

The garden has been a labour of love for the actor who, over the years, worked as a landscape garden designer between roles.

"Everything you see I have created myself," he acknowleges.

"It has brought me immense pleasure because I have been allowed to create something that will still be here in years to come.

"I bought the place in 2001 and the house was neglected and the mill Tall, striking and private, Christopher Good, now 64 years old, still retains his stage and screen charismatic presence and, although he enjoys his acting career, he is taking a slower look at life.

It is, he says, time for reflecting and he is giving better thought to decisions.

"I'd love to go on working and, these days, I can put my life's experience into my acting which helps develop the character in a more rounded way, but I need to be able to have time here to work on the garden," he says.

"My father's family farmed near Tenbury and as a child I would spent a great deal of time there.

"This valley is full of mills and orchard, most of them derelict, and if people don't do them up they will be pulled down or fall down.

"I loved this place because it was a house in an orchard. I moved here 3 2 because I needed something else, other than acting. I have always loved gardening and worked well with the professional people who helped me restore the house and mill."

The three-storey farmhouse was stripped back and rebuilt with a masculine, no-nonsense decor.

The front door opens into a kitchen-dining room that just invites friends to take off their shoes and stay.

The mill stands separately and is surrounded by outbuildings. It has been completely restored and serves as a library as well as a spare bedroom for Christopher to move into when the house is full of friends.

The same time and care that has been lavished on the garden has also gone into the house and mill, says Christopher.

"The house is 14th century but the mill, although it has its origins in the 14th century, has been rebuilt many times," he continues.

"All the shaking that goes on in a corn mill meant that it would have collapsed and been rebuilt over the years.

"It's a beautiful place with a spiritual feel and I like nothing better than sitting by the fire and just thinking things out. "I love living here on my own and enjoying my own company but I am never lonely.

"You are only yourself and you live and die yourself so it's right to have this kind of time to be yourself."

With great thoughtfulness, Christopher carefully talks through the project and there's a vague suggestion that the house, mill and garden are extensions of himself.

"I wanted the house to look as it should so renovated it with age in mind," he says.

Despite the fact the mill is inactive and will never again produce corn for the valley, Christopher is keen to keep the orchard alive and, with rare insightfulness and practicality, has managed to preserve the essence of a working farm.

"We may not have a corn mill now but we still have the apples and that's a huge part of Herefordshire," he says.

When the fruit is ready it is sent for pressing and returned as Titley Mill organic and pure juice. Producing from the estate is important to Christopher and a tribute to the Herefordshire way of life.

2:54pm Friday 13th June 2008

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