From dire straits to award-winning success – Susan Welsh meets an Oban couple with a remarkable gardening story to tell
An Oban husband-and-wife team, Amber Goudy and Martin Crowley, have received two special awards and well-deserved praise after creating a stunning garden at the annual Gardening Scotland Show, which finished at the weekend.
The couple, who have been together for three years, were awarded a Gold Medal Best in Show and became one of the winners of the inaugural Artisan Garden Design Competition for the garden they created for the charity Perennial.
But dig a little deeper behind the garden, which features two giant arum “lilies” constructed of steel, spiky architectural planting and splashes of dramatic coloured flowers, and you’ll find an inspirational and uplifting story.
Amber and Martin, who live at Ardfern, near Oban, with 12-year-old Lauren and 10-month-old daughter Thea, created the garden as a thank you to the charity for all the help it gave Martin after he was struck down with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease.
Amber said: “Martin, who was 28 at the time, was working away when he dropped his coffee mug. That was the first sign anything was wrong.
“His hands went numb, then his feet and, within a few weeks, he was completely paralysed.”
She said doctors were likely to see only one case of Guillain-Barre syndrome in their working lives.
Martin, barely able to walk, could only watch as the family landscaping business, which he ran with his mother, Morven, went under.
“He’d always been a big, physical man and going from that to not being able to walk or work was pretty awful,” said Amber.
Martin said: “I had never been out of work but, when I became ill, it never even occurred to me that I would get more than two or three days’ sick pay.”
Help came when Martin’s mother recalled picking up a leaflet from the Perennial stand at a Gardening Scotland show she had attended a few years before.
Perennial is the UK’s only charity dedicated to helping horticulturists.
“She gave them a ring to see if they could help Martin and they sent a wonderful case worker,” said Amber.
Martin added: “Her input made all the difference in the world.
“She helped sort out my disability living allowance and other benefits which I was entitled to.
“Without her help, we would have been destitute.”
Although Martin had been told he would never be able to do a physical job again, his health gradually improved.
Amber said: “He was told he wouldn’t walk for six months but he’s really determined and stubborn and perhaps because of that and the treatment he received, he was easing himself back into work after six months and working full-time after one year.
“Perennial is an amazing charity and, because gardeners and horticulturists tend to be a self-sufficient bunch, they don’t ask for help easily, but we want more people to know the charity is there and they can ask for help.”
The couple, who run Amber Goudy Garden Design, while Martin also has a steelwork business, wanted to express their gratitude to the charity.
“The opportunity to do this arose when Jim Jermyn, who organises Gardening Scotland, invited us do to a garden here,” said Amber. “Then Perennial asked if we’d design a garden for them, so we though it would be perfect to do one for this show.”
The garden, inspired by the arum lily that forms Perennial’s logo, features two giant arum lilies constructed of recycled steel, towering over a rough landscape of slate shards.
From the trumpet of one lily, water pours to symbolise the healing balm Perennial brings to troubled lives.
The water flows through split slate paving, the cracks becoming narrower until the surface is smooth and perfect, representing Perennial helping to smooth the path ahead and piecing broken lives back together.
The back of the garden represents hardship and is dramatic and chaotic, with spiky architectural planting and harsh, jagged slate and rusted metal.
Coming forward through the garden, the planting softens with paler colours and there is a tranquil place to sit under the smoothed and painted metal of the pergola, showing the calmer and more contented life of someone who had benefited from Perennial’s help.
Creating the garden was truly a family affair, with four generations of their families helping with the build.
“Both Martin’s and my family are in the horticulture trade and, with this garden, everyone has been keen to get involved and make it happen,” said Amber.
“We were chuffed to bits to win the Artisan Garden Design award.”
Martin said: “Perennial were there when I needed them.
“Personally, I am delighted to be able to help celebrate their work by creating this show garden and hope that the charity can continue to be there to help others who find themselves in difficulty.”
Perennial’s volunteer support officer, Laura Garnett, said: “Perennial helped more people than ever in Scotland last year and we have a full-time case worker covering Scotland.
“As Martin himself found, Perennial provides a lifeline to those who find themselves in dire straits.
“All of our work depends entirely on the generosity of our supporters and we have pledged to raise more funds than ever this year to help safeguard our services for those who most need them.”