REAL LIFE; Doing thyme

listair is going to abandon his garden in four weeks' time. herbs, potatoes, tomatoes, the lot. Not because he's sick of it but because one month from now he'll be due for release.

Alistair is an inmate at Leyhill, an open prison out in the wilds between Bristol and Gloucester, and since late 1994 he's been working seven days a week to help maintain the prison garden's extraordinary reputation.

Leyhill, it should be stressed, is hardly your typical Porridge- style prison. There are no towering perimeter walls topped with barbed wire, no fierce, slavering dogs patrolling the gate. In fact, the place looks more like a college campus than one of Her Majesty's jails. The prisoners even have keys to their rooms.

"I could walk out pretty easily if I wanted to," says Alistair. "But it's just not worth it."

It's not worth it for two reasons. First, because when you're only weeks from the end of a 40-month sentence, absconding (the polite word they use for escaping) really wouldn't do your cause a lot of good. And second, because Alistair has a far more important priority right now.

Along with fellow inmate Frank, a "lifer" with a year still to serve, he is working flat out to prepare for this year's Hampton Court Flower Show in London.

If you think this all sounds a bit far-fetched, you couldn't be further from the truth. The prison enters the Hampton Court or Chelsea Flower Show every year - and last summer they struck gold, winning the Tudor Rose award at Hampton Court for a display entitled Del's Garden ("Del" is a reference to the former prison service chief Derek Lewis).

This year the Leyhill theme will be The Apothecary's Garden, featuring around 150 herbs and plants with reputed healing qualities. These include thyme, camomile, hawthorn, tarragon, garlic, coriander, dandelion and wild strawberry.

"Many of the plants we grow in this country look very attractive," explains Jeff Goundrill, the prison officer who oversees the operation with farm manager Martin Brooks. "But most people are not aware of their medicinal and healing qualities. These range from flatulence relief to plants which can increase your sex drive."

Leyhill is a low-security category D prison - its role is to re- acclimatize prisoners to the real world. All the 350 inmates - whose offences range from murder to unpaid fines - are approaching the final days of their time behind bars and every inmate is obliged to have a job. If it's not gardening it could involve working in the prison kitchen, doing woodwork or helping run the prison's printing press.

The market garden operation is so efficient that it supplies food not only to Leyhill's kitchens but also to 25 other jails across the south west. There's also a prison produce shop open to the public.

Alistair, 38, has become so involved with his gardening work during his two years at Leyhill that he'll be attending the Hampton Court show - which runs July 9-14 - out of choice, rather than obligation. But Alistair's gardening colleagues still residing at Leyhill by the summer will have to follow strict prison procedures during their preparations for the show. This means travelling down to the site in late June to prepare the display and travelling back each evening - a round trip of 300 miles.

But Alistair knows that as far as he is concerned all their efforts have been worthwhile. "This garden has changed my life," he says. "It is so therapeutic. I love it. When I leave Leyhill I plan to set up as a landscape gardener."

Frank, 42, a trained engineer, feels the same. "When I came here there was no engineering work I could do," he says. "So gardening was the next best option. It's often hard work but I really enjoy it."

Both men work each day from 8am to 11.30am, and then again from 1pm to 4pm. On weekdays they earn pounds 1.50 a day. At weekends, the pay rises to pounds 2.50. This money generally pays for basics from the canteen or prison shop.

Alistair is particularly enthusiastic about this year's garden theme - but has plenty of advice for anyone planning their own herbal garden. "You should keep these plants out of the wind, ideally in a sunny position," he explains. "And it's important to research what you're going to grow. Some plants can have dangerous side-effects, especially if you're pregnant or have an allergy."

Patience, it seems, is also essential. "It's a bit like my own life," reflects Alistair. "You learn from trial and error."

Copyright 1996 MGN LTD
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