Diarmuid Gavin studied amenity horticulture at the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin. Following this he established his own garden design business. After twice winning the Royal Dublin Society Gold medal for garden design during the nineties, he displayed at the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show in 1995 and 1996. Diarmuid’s modern vibrant city garden in 1996 caused quite a stir and led to a career in television where he developed a unique style in contemporary garden design. Indeed the BBC made a five hour documentary series “Diarmuid’s Big Adventure” following Diarmuid building a garden there which is subsequently developed an audience for his work in many foreign territories.
He has since worked for all the main broadcasters on both radio and television in the UK and Ireland. For 8 years his main programme, “Homefront”, broadcast by the BBC achieved top ratings. But he has also been presenter and garden designer on other programmes such as “I Want a Garden”, and “Planet Patio”. He has worked on garden history programmes such as “Art of the Garden” in association with Tate Britain and “Gardens Through Time”, profiling the history of the Royal Horticultural Society over 250 years.
Outside garden television, he has appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, The Weakest Link, Mastermind, Celebrity Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Celebrity Come Dine With Me and was the subject of the Irish version of Who Do You Think You Are.
He learned to show jump on an BBC television charity special called “Only Fools on Horses” and subsequently wrote and presented a series “Diarmuid’s Ponykids” where five children from disadvantaged areas who ride in fields on urban estates were trained by the top show jumpers in the world, helped by Zara Phillips, how to show jump and subsequently competed at Ireland’s premier show. This series won Diarmuid the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Documentary Series.
A series that was aired in 2009 to great acclaim was Blood of the Irish – which has since won an IFTA - where he travelled the world, determining through genetics, the origins of the Irish race, going back 60,000 years.
In 2010 he took part in a 2 hour documentary aired on the BBC called Rich, Famous and Jobless - living alongside unemployed people for eight days to find out what’s it like to be unemployed in the UK. And he took part in 71 Degree North - an endurance show for 2 weeks set in the icy glaciers of Scandinavia where he had to endure amongst other things sleeping in a tent in sub zero temperatures
He is ITV’s This Morning resident garden designer and has travelled to many UK and worldwide gardens to film a sequence of mini series for the programme as well as completed many UK makeovers.
In 2011 he exhibited his most daring garden yet at the Chelsea Flower Show. A garden pod suspended with the use of a 250tonne crane over a sumptuous verde ground garden became the highlight of the show and won Diarmuid his first gold and the coveted People’s Award.
In 2011 he became an ambassador for the Princes Trust
Diarmuid was awarded an honorary Doctor of Art from Nottingham Trent University in 2007 in recognition of his contribution to garden design. In 2011 he became an ambassador to The Prince’s Foundation. He is a supporter of the Niall Mellon Township Trust, The Rose Project which supports AIDS sufferers in Africa, the Cill Riallaig Arts Centre in Co. Kerry and regularly works with the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme
Diarmuid has written 9 books on garden design. His 10th book is his autobiography which is to be launched in 2010 –tells the story of how he became a garden designer and the highs and lows that followed him.
He currently has a weekly gardening column in the Daily Mirror and regularly writes articles for other newspapers – particularly The Telegraph and The Independent
He gives seminars and lectures both nationally and internationally on garden design and the development of the modern garden and runs a successful business in garden design and construction based in Dublin and London’ with clients in Europe, South Africa and the Middle East. He is regularly called on by art, architectural and design colleges to give talks and seminars to students and to judge design competitions. He has recently worked with Moscow City Council examining the work of Russian contemporary designers.
He is in high demand from corporate clients for promotional campaigns and works to identify emerging trends for some international consultancies.
Diarmuid’s designs philosophy follows the standard form and function, always listening to the client but adding a twist, an element of surprise and often fun.
He is married to Justine and has a daughter Eppie and lives in Co. Wicklow.
