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I grew up with a complete fascination with wildlife and nature.

So I grew up in Richmond, West London, on the edge of Richmond Park.

And if you visited me in those years when I was three years old or eight years old or 13 years old, you'd have invariably found me in the back garden trying to create different kinds of wildlife habitat digging out ponds that tended not to work very well because of the sandy soil putting up bird boxes I knew the names of the plants I knew how to find birds nests I was fascinated and mesmerized by wildlife and nature and I grew up in a surprisingly wild place because in fact I found the English countryside pretty disappointing I had an aunt who lived out at Sturminster Newton and we used to pile into the car as children and go off and visit her and she had some neat fields bordered by very tidy hedges and There wasn't much wildlife there.

You go see some jackdaws and some crows, but there wasn't much, lots of sheep.

I was always delighted to get back to Richmond because it really is quite wild that the fringes of London, Richmond Park itself is nearly 3,000 acres of acid grassland with ancient oak, woodland savannas and ham common.

I grew up in 120 acres of secondary woodland.

Mm.

You know, single species, uh, Italian rye grass monocultures cut for silage in May, uh, slurried to high heaven, uh, throughout the year.

Hedges cut to the quick.

Um, and, and, and really not much, um, in terms of wildlife.

Uh, I, I, I, I, I farmed the land initially because that's kind of what you're supposed to do.

You know, you arrive as an outsider, especially a young outsider in my 20s, and you have the agent and the neighbors and the community, and this kinda sense that we're in England, so this is a farmed landscape.

I remember kind of being granted by all those powers that be 15 acres at one end of my farm to plant some trees, 'cause back then tree planting was where it was at.

Yeah, yeah.

y'alls yeah

I I I mean, not to comment on the shittiness of my parents, but on compost.

Recently, we got a compost bin and it's one of those that revolves.

I think maybe they ought to be a small one and you've got a little handle on it, which makes it revolve.

So you mix the kind of old grass with old flower deadheads and things like that.

And I've never had a compost bin before.

And it's amazing how much stuff mulches down, as they say.

as well yeah

I'm dreaming of that.

Honestly, Mr. Clark.

Can I call you Clarky? Yeah, yeah.

Sure.

Clarky, look.

I know this is unorthodox.

But this guy sounds fantastic.

over you right

I'm sorry, have you just been, because I noticed that you were so quiet for the rest of the date, I thought you were just really listening, but have you just been waiting to talk about clocks?

I have, yes, I've been waiting to talk about clocks.

All right, you're sweating.

I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

It's just a predilection of mine.

It's just that sweet tick-tock, tick-tock.

It is, you know, in tune with the rhythm of one's heart, don't you think? I guess that's kind of romantic and sweet.

Yeah.

Mm.

Just small things.

Um, and I started wanting to make bigger things, and we, you know, I was growing out.

Yeah, so that the summer house had two, three by threes EUPs outside.

It...

And it was, you know, a bit of an eyesore in that respect.

Um, luckily a friend of mine, uh, yeah, become a friend of mine who used to, uh, or still owns a wood mill, and he's got a workshop, let me use his space.

Yeah.