Product Description

Alan Titchmarsh has had a passion for gardening for as long as he can remember. Aged 8, he announced to friends that he was going to be the next Percy Thrower, although he thought it was no more than a dream.



With the magic touch of a best-selling writer, Alan tells his own story from Ilkley Moor to Pebble Mill and to the final realising of his dream of becoming TV's favourite gardener. Along the way, the cast of characters includes everyone from Auntie Ethel to Nelson Mandela and the Queen.



With great charm, humour and passion, this is probably the best story Alan Titchmarsh has ever told.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33143 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Trowel and Error is described as a "touch of the memoirs" by the author. Alan Titchmarsh is now a national institution; with his characteristic good humour and charm, he is unquestionably the country's number-one television gardener and presenter with even an unlikely reputation as a sex symbol (a reputation that started as a joke). Apart from his considerable gardening acumen, of course, he has also proved to be a novelist of genuine ability, with such books as Mr MacGregor and Animal Instincts.

Communication is, needles to say, his special skill, and it was to be expected that Trowel and Error (the groan-inducing pun is all part of the Titchmarsh armoury), would be revealing and evocative. Titchmarsh announced to school friends of the age of 10 that he would be the next Percy Thrower, although those ambitions were, he tells us, fudged in some uncomfortable encounters with the opposite sex (Titchmarsh always picked girls who were taller than him, and the relationships didn't last). In fact his Yorkshire childhood in the 1950s is one of the most purely enjoyable parts of the book, with his stamping ground of Ilkley Moor the seat of his passionate love for nature. His first experiences as a gardener at the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew are full of the kind of quirky incident that makes his writing appealing. As his fame grew, Titchmarsh began rubbing shoulders with the likes of Nelson Mandela Julia Roberts and the Queen, and such encounters are highly diverting.

Many a book conceals a rampant ego behind an "aw, shucks" manner, but Titchmarsh comes across as a genuinely nice guy--one who is self-deprecating. This is a truly engaging (and often very funny) autobiography. --Barry Forshaw

About the Author
Alan Titchmarsh is known to millions through the popular BBC TV programmes Ground Force and Gardener's World. He has written more than thirty gardening books, as well as four novels.

Excerpted from Trowel and Error by Alan Titchmarsh. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
‘My clearest memories of childhood are all outdoors. I am squinting at the sun, or hearing my feet squelch inside my boots, or breathing deeply through my nose and feeling my nostrils fill with ice. Maybe I was destined to lead an outdoor life.’ Samuel Jonas, Rustic Rambles, ....
My small fingers traced the outline of the round, smooth boulder. It was heavier than I was, and covered in a silky brown coating that made it slippery to the touch. It was in about a foot of water, in the River Wharfe at Ilkley in Yorkshire. Age? About seven or eight. I stood facing upstream, feeling the cold water swirling past my legs; spidery legs that stuck out from a pair of shorts. Thin legs, dusted with golden hairs. The curled toes of my freezing feet hung on to the stony riverbed in the hope that I’d avoid losing my grip and I flicked the thick and ever – present fringe of hair out of my eyes, peering past the glittering reflections on the surface of the water to the amber depths around the boulder. It was here somewhere. A catfish. A big one – streamlined and sly, whiskered and wary of the approach of a small pair of hands intent on catching it – its tail twitching to keep it in line with the current. I pounced. Too late – a splash of water and that was it. The catfish was gone, perfectly camouflaged in the beer - brown pool, and I’d nothing to show for my trouble but wet, rolled - up sleeves and soggy – bottomed shorts. I picked my way gingerly to the grassy bank and lay down on my stomach among sweet – smelling foxtail and rye. I looked at the jam-jar containing three bullheads – slower, duller and easier to catch. They were gasping for air, and nudging at the Robertson’s Golly to find a way out. I would let them go. In a bit.
Childhood summer holidays seemed always to be like this – lived out in the open – and they must be the reason that I’ve grown up the way I have, a direct result of both nature and nurture, the perfect hybrid. The world indoors has never held any attraction for me, except in the worst of weathers. I rise early – always have – anxious not to miss out on anything. If the sun is shining and I have to stay indoors, I become irritable and eager to escape. A childhood in Wharfedale is to blame. But I’m not complaining.
On the north side of the valley were the woods, carpeted with bluebells and wild garlic in spring; knee deep in rusty oak leaves and black mud in winter. To the south were the moors, looming over the town, purple with heather in late summer, orange with bracken in winter, or else almost black under heavy rain clouds. At the bottom of the dale, the silvery river snaked its way between playing fields and houses, separating the two wilder parts of the town. With no television to watch for the first few years of my life, that was the choice in fair weather, and often in foul: woods, moors or river.
The moors with their unforgettable fruity tang of bracken and heather, bilberry and crowberry, provided the scenery for imagined Westerns where, without a horse but with a rhythm of hoofbeats, I would gallop along paths of silver sand and then shin up massive lumps of millstone grit to survey the scene below. Genteel Ilkley became Arizona, Rocky Valley on Ilkley Moor a cowboy canyon. Occasionally these imaginings would be played out with a friend, but more frequently I travelled solo, or with our dog, a corgicairn - and - border – terrier – fluffball called Cindy. She would shoot through the bracken so that only the quivering fronds could offer a clue as to where she was heading, and I would breast my way through the greenery in pursuit, running madly downhill and often falling headlong on top of her in fits of mad laughter.

Customer Reviews

Never a Trial and certainly not any errors!
I am not really interested in gardening programmes but do love Ground Force. I vaguely remember Percy Thrower, but Alan Titchmarsh will always be the TV gardener in my lifetime! From the very beginning the book kept enthralled, enchanted and entertained. The funny little anecdotes, are good as he takes you from the very beginning up until present day. All the characters he has met in his life have made an impact on him, and he has learnt so much! So did I. Especially on how long he had been in TV and the work, on books and magazines! He even mentions all of his fans, that follow him, have all his books and even stitch them for him! It was nice to have read these in separate articles and then see some references to them in the book. I wish he could have added a few more little anecdotes to the section about Ground Force, I bet there are some tales to tell there! Nevertheless the book has everything, the main ingredient being warm Yorkshire humour!!!

Trowel and Error - Alan Titchmarch
I've had my eye on Trowel and Error for a few weeks now, being a fan of Alan Titchmarch for his expertise in gardening.

I've previously read his novel "Our Dad" and enjoyed it immensely, and obviously mentioned Trowel and Error so many times my husband bought it for my birthday recently. I haven't finished it yet but what I have read so far can only be described as "written with an honesty and humour that deserves the 5 stars I've given it".

It has brought back so many of my own childhood memories and I look forward to sharing his further exploits as I read through the pages. I've so much confidence in his ability as a writer, I know I will enjoy what's to come so I've now ordered all of his other published novels that I know about: The Lighthouse Keeper, Animal Instincts, Mr MacGregor, I eagerly await their arrival. Once read I will be posting further reviews on them. Well done Alan, your an inspiration to people, that despite what other people say to you or their opinions of you, you can succeed in anything you choose to put your mind to.

Trowel and Error - no mistake this is a great book!
Alan Titchmarsh has at last moved from writing gardening books and works of fiction to penning his autobiography.

This popular and very down to earth gardener and TV presenter writes that he always has been passionate about gardening and that at the age of 10 announced to his friends that one day he would be the successor to Percy Thrower. Little did he imagine that this would indeed be the case.

The book starts with the fun he had as a child in Yorkshire surrounded by family, his unhappy schooldays when on leaving he was told he would not amount to much and then on to his first job as a gardener. He then worked his way through horticultural college and landed a job at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.

From there he became Deputy Editor of Amateur Gardening soon expanding his media role both as a gardening expert and a presenter which he combines in top-rated shows such as Ground Force and Gardener’s World.

He has written over 30 gardening books as well as several best selling novels.

This autobiography is entertaining and just what his many fans have been waiting for.