I'm loving the Good Life | BBC Radio Solent's Lou Hannan

Albeit without the acting talent and good looks, but my life is now bearing a bit of a resemblance to her character Barbara Good in The Good Life.

Clearly you have to be a certain age to know who I’m talking about but in basic terms, think about a dungaree wearing tom boy who grows all her own fruit and veg.

I moved into my current house just over a year ago and, along with a huge amount of building work, painting and decorating and general maintenance, I also inherited a rather large vegetable patch.

I say ‘vegetable patch’ but given the other priorities in the house, of late it resembled something out of Jurassic Park with weeds I’ve never even seen before sprouting up to waist height right the way through it.

The general advice was ‘spray it with weedkiller’. That seemed to work about nine months ago.

The weeds started to die but then two months later, like a group of superheroes, seemed to gain more power than ever before and reach even dizzier heights now.

So, when lockdown began I could put it off no longer. The time had come to get the spade and fork out and dig it all up by hand (or foot).

And you know what? It’s been strangely satisfying! Yes, it’s taken days and days and yes, my back hurts, but I can finally see the start of a blank canvas on which I can plant seeds.

I’ve still yet to discover why stinging nettles and brambles have a root network more complicated and longer than the London underground map but still, it’s progress.

The next step is actually planting and this is where my Felicity Kendal similarity disappears. Potatoes to clear the ground? More weed killer to get rid of the existing roots or leave it for a season?

I’ve had mixed advice from gardener friends so any thoughts are more than welcome.

Given how many people have turned to growing their own, I’m aware I’ve missed the boat.

But for someone who had absolutely no interest in gardening (and I mean NO interest), I’ve surprised myself by quite how much I’m enjoying my project, want to keep it up when this is all over, and how the simple things in life really are the best.