Diarmuid Gavin

Diarmuid Gavin
Diarmuid Gavin at the Dublin Horse Show
Born	10 May 1964 (1964-05-10) (age 47)
Nationality	Irish
Education	Templeogue College
Alma mater	College of Amenity Horticulture
Occupation	Garden designer
Spouse	Justine Keane
Website
http://www.diarmuidgavindesigns.co.uk/

Diarmuid Gavin (born 10 May 1964) is an Irish garden designer and television personality. He is married to Justine Keane, daughter of The Hon. Ronan Keane, the former Chief Justice of Ireland, and Terry Keane, and they have a daughter named Eppie born December 2004.

Early life

When he was six, his younger brother Conor (5) was killed by a car while they were walking to school.^[1] He received secondary education at Templeogue College, which he recalls as being "horrifying," with the exception of art classes,^[2] and studied horticulture at the College of Amenity Horticulture in Glasnevin, Ireland.

Awards

Diarmuid Gavin won an RDS Gold Award in 1991 and 1993, a bronze medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in 1995, a silver-gilt medal in 2004, and a silver-gilt medal in 2007.^[3] He finally won a gold at Chelsea for "The Irish Sky Garden" in 2011, in partnership with Fáilte Ireland, and the City of Cork.^[4] He is also a patron at Southport Flower Show.

In 2007, Diarmuid received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Art from Nottingham Trent University in recognition of his international reputation for contemporary garden designs.

Television appearances

He has presented a number of BBC television programmes including Gardeners' World; Home Front with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and, in 2004, a Twofour and RHS production Gardens Through Time. RTÉ is currently screening the TV show "I want a Garden".

In autumn 2004 he participated in the BBC One pro-celebrity ballroom dancing game show Strictly Come Dancing. In summer 2006 in the BBC's charity showjumping event Only Fools on Horses.

On 12 December 2010 Diarmuid appeared on Channel 4 in a Christmas special edition of Come Dine With Me alongside David Gest, Hannah Waterman and Sherrie Hewson.

In May 2011 Gavin's "Irish Sky Garden" won the gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show. However it courted controversy when Cork City Council in Ireland agreed to put the garden on permanent display at Fitzgerald's Park in the Mardyke area of the city at a cost of at least €300,000 to the cash-strapped council.^[5] Already more than €1.7 million had been given to the project by Fáilte Ireland, the Irish tourism body. The decision attracted widespread critcism including that of a number of Cork city councillors. Councillor Ted Tynan pointed out that there were over 500 boarded up local authority houses in the city and demanded clarification from the council as the exact cost of the garden would be.^[6]

Works

Diarmuid Gavin is the author of a number of bestselling gardening books including Diarmuid Gavin's Big Ideas and Outer Spaces.

References

1. ^ "Interview: Jasper Gerard meets Diarmuid Gavin". The Times (London). 27 March 2005. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article438121.ece. 
2. ^ "Class Act: Interview by Sylvia Roger". London: Daily Telegraph. 1 May 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=/education/2004/05/01/terclass01.xml. 
3. ^ "Diarmuid Gavin wins Chelsea silver". http://www.rte.ie/arts/2007/0522/gkaving.html. 
4. ^ . http://www.rhs.org.uk/Shows-Events/RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show/2011/Gardens/A-to-Z/The-Irish-Sky-Garden. 
5. ^ http://www.independent.ie/national-news/diarmuid-gavinrsquos-euro2m-lsquosky-gardenrsquo-growing-in-cost-2661548.html
6. ^ http://www.independent.ie/national-news/diarmuid-gavinrsquos-euro2m-lsquosky-gardenrsquo-growing-in-cost-2661548.html

External links

• Diarmuid Gavin Designs

Persondata
Name	Gavin, Diarmuid
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	10 May 1964
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death