THE plan to re-develop Ford Park House at Ulverston into apartments has largely been welcomed, since it will rescue this building with all its history from falling into further disrepair.

Many Ulverston people remember having lessons at the house when it was part of the school, and, with this part of the town’s past in mind, I went back to the diary of Fred Chadwick who was a gardener there in the 1930s when it was still a private dwelling.

Mr Chadwick grew some vegetables, and I was partly looking for entries which might indicate that the pattern of sowing and harvesting was different 80 years ago, long before warnings of climate change.

This search was not particularly successful: much like today Mr Chadwick put his potatoes in at the end of March or beginning of April and lifted them in mid-July, although I was intrigued by the varieties, Ringleader and Early Victory, which I suspect are no longer in vogue.

However, I was struck again by how formal the gardens were in those days.

Every year Mr Chadwick planted up different borders with thousands of bedding plants, and he spent many hours raking the gravel.

Now, after the renovation of the kitchen garden, the creation of the new plant nursery, the growth of trees and all the work of the volunteers, the park and gardens around the house are very different.

Everyone can enjoy the magnificent swathes of daffodils in spring and the colourful mixture of flowers and vegetables in the kitchen garden.

We are lucky enough to have an allotment below Ford Park, and the same trend is evident there, with many allotment gardeners letting wild and cultivated flowers bloom among their vegetable beds instead of just having rows of cabbages and onions in strict military order.

It’s also clear that flower seeds are blowing along and between the two sites, with flowers we certainly haven’t planted popping up in odd corners.

This more relaxed style of gardening, and no pesticide use in Ford Park, seems to be good for bees, insects and birds. This year we’ve never seen so many bold blackbirds digging for worms, and at least one family of thrushes has reappeared.

It is to be hoped this carries on, and we can continue to enjoy the lovely sight of a thrush singing on our shed in the evening.