September 5th saw Lawn and Order premiere on Channel 5. Channel 5 contacted us at Allett to see if we had any passionate Allett users willing to take part in the documentary and up popped Keith Smith a self employed gardener from Birmingham, Kev Morgan a train driver from Devon and 74 year old Stuart Grindle owner of Britains Best Lawn 2017.
Stuart claims its an obsession for him which involves a lot of hard work. Having spent 40 years looking after his lawn, Stuart says: 'The lawn is my pride and joy, and has been a labour of love for years. I have spent many a year perfecting my garden, particularly the lawn, and have learnt that there is never a finished article. It's a passion I have had for over 40 years.'
Stuart's lawn is cut twice a day (three times a week) at around 10mm with his Allett Classic with 10 bladed cartridge. ''A lot of people think you can cut the lawn once a fortnight and that's ok, but its not. You've got to cut at least once or twice a week to get a decent lawn''. Stuart uses 100% bent grass seed that can be costly however he states ''That is what's required to get a good lawn''. Stuart has never let his child play football on the lawn which some people may find hard to understand.
It's been 20 years since Stuart and his wife took a holiday during the summer months. He knows just how quick grass can grow and doesn't want it to get out of hand while he's away. Stuart believes he has spent over £50,000 on his lawn over the years; his wife think it's double that! The water bill for the lawn is up to around £800 a year. Stuart's proudest moment came when he won Britain's Best Lawn in 2017. ''I actually won a rotary mower but a rotary mower isn't good enough so i gave it away''.
Stuart has now acquired gardener Dan to help him with his lawn so he can sit back and enjoy it. Stuart open's his garden up to the public to enjoy every July (pre Covid) raising thousands of pounds for charity.
Find Stuart's Open Garden Here
Next up is Keith Smith. Keith won the Allett Creative Stripes Competition in 2018 and has been quite the lawn sensation since then on social media. ''My daughter put a few time-lapse videos of me on Tik Tok of me mowing my lawn and one video is up to 4.8 million views'. The amount of effort that went into my winning design was immense. I was buzzing for weeks after I won. I was mowing it before I went to work, when i got home from work and then in the evening so it was getting cut three times a day''. The winning design took Keith 273 hours of cutting over the 2018 summer. Keith's winning design is one of the most popular winners in the history of the competition winning Keith a Liberty 43 battery cylinder mower with ALL it's compatible cartridges and 2 cartridge stands- what a prize! Keith's passion for lawn-care is evident in his job roles with him also working as a green-keeper at golf course as well as a match-day groundsman at Aston Villa.
Keiths winning design above
Kev Morgan a 44 year old train driver from Devon also appeared on the documentary. ''I would say I'm obsessed with it. I found myself watching football matches on the TV and looking more at the pitch than I did the actual game. I always think I can do better and that's what keeps me going.I'm just trying to find perfection but I haven't found it yet''.
Kevin's wife Becky states Kevin asked her if he had time to stripe the lawn up while she was in labour; she agreed before heading off to hospital for the birth of their newborn. Kevin uses an Allett Classic and came third in the Allett Creative Stripes competition in 2016. His children are trained to walk down the light stripes in the lawn leaving no footprints. His neighbour Angie states how Kev is obsessed with his lawn and rewards Kevin's time cutting her lawn with an ice cold pint in return. In the documentary Kevin show's the extra appliances keen lawn owners invest in to get the very best lawns including a watering system in his garden powered by his phone app and a weather station mirroring the football groundsmen Kev watches on TV regularly.
Talking about the Allett Creative Stripes competition Kev states '' It's the biggest competition and hopefully one day I'll win it. To say your lawn your stripes are the best in the world you're a world champion at lawn striping that massive for me. That's the Olympics that's the gold medal!''
Kev's entry into this year's Allett Creative Stripes Competition
Watch the documentary here on MY5
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