Lost Gardens

Sutton Stop (1x6)

Air date: Oct 21, 2010

A lock-keeper's garden blooms as Monty Don and his channel 4 team recreate a scene from the forgotten past of Coventry's waterways. Excavation of a garden near Coventry draws a frustrating blank, but a lucky find in a record office plunges the team right into the heart of the life, and garden, of lock keeper Richard Sutton's residence in 1807-1876. Sutton became famous in the area for selling his produce to passing barges and the road leading to the lock was named Sutton Stop in his honour. Richard's garden was well-known to 19th-century travellers, but over the years became neglected and overgrown.