By Ewan Pate, farming editor

RURAL DIVERSIFICATION comes in all shapes and sizes but it is rarely as impressive as the new garden next to Alnwick Castle.

The brainchild of the Duchess of Northumberland, it is run by a charitable trust and is probably best known for its fabulous cascading water feature.

There is, however, much more to this than a whim.

Ian August has been closely involved with the project since it was first conceived back in 1997.

Speaking to a visiting group from Edinburgh Agricultural Society, he explained that the plan was hatched by the new duchess, who had just moved to Alnwick Castle with her husband and four young children.

She wanted a project that would enliven Alnwick and the surrounding area, much of which is part of the sprawling Northumberland Estate.

Initially, her idea of transforming 13 acres of derelict walled garden into a tourist attraction was greeted with dismay locally.

Alnwick people mostly liked the tranquil life of a market town, even though the economy of this rural area was lagging far behind the regenerated urban areas of North-East England.

The garden lies on a slope behind Alnwick overlooking parkland which has changed little since it was laid out by Capability Brown, a local man who went on to be the outstanding landscape architect of the 18th century.

“Our thinking was that we should build on what Brown did here by having one of the outstanding gardens of the twenty first century,” said Mr August.

“We employed Jaques Wirtz and his son Peter, who work from a base in Belgium, to design something which is quite unique.”

They have certainly achieved the dream.

The central water feature is rightly famous but the rest of the garden is equally remarkable, with imaginative plantings of a huge range of plants.

The project so far has cost a staggering £42 million, half of that in the last year alone. It also managed to attract 425,000 visitors, including 16, 000 schoolchildren.

From the local perspective it has been a huge boost, which was part of the original plan.

Alnwick has a limited number of hotels. A phone call to make a booking is likely to be greeted with the question, “Which year were you thinking of?”

This has led to a most enormous demand for bed-and-breakfast accommodation, much of which has been provided in farmhouses and villages.

Mr August said, “The total inflow of funds from garden visitors was estimated at £45 million last year.

“Of that, only £2 million was spent on admissions to the garden. This means that there has been a huge injection of cash into our part of Northumberland.”

The search is on for a further 100 bed-and-breakfast operators.

The extra income was certainly needed following poor farming years and the devastation of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001.

New businesses have been set up to cater for the visitors.

Two or three local men got together to buy vintage buses which they use to ferry visitors from the overflow car parks and to give tours of the area.

Around 200 people work in the gardens themselves.

Initially a group of farmers’ wives set out to bake for the visitors, but on the opening day the trays of baking were empty by mid-day.

Within a few weeks the operation had developed into a highly organised rota of round-the-clock baking and even that was soon overwhelmed.

Mr August is rightly proud of the achievements at Alnwick.

Something as simple as a garden, even if it is a grand one, has transformed a rural economy.

There will still be those who preferred the county to be a peaceful backwater. However, for those who have seen their incomes from the traditional activities of farming and forestry steadily dwindle, the new Alnwick garden will have been a godsend.