Cover

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Praise for Alan Titchmarsh

‘Splendid…I laughed out loud’

Rosamunde Pilcher

‘Absolutely charming…made me understand a lot more about men’

Jilly Cooper

‘A steamy novel of love among the gro-bags’

Observer

‘A fine debut…great fun, but also sensitive and sensible with a tuneful storyline. Titchmarsh fans will lap up Mr MacGregor’

Independent

‘I admit it, I like Mr MacGregor. It’s as satisfying as a freshly-mown lawn’

Daily Mirror

‘Humorous, light-hearted and unpretentious. Titchmarsh’s book is strengthened by authenticity. Ideal for romantic gardeners’

Mail on Sunday

‘Titchmarsh is good company and it’s a pleasure to walk the path with him. The story is cheerful, frothy and it’s a change to see love’s dilemmas from the male point of view…Mr Titchmarsh has matured as a writer…and he’s great to take to the beach’

Daily Express

Dedication

For
Caroline and Neil

Acknowledgements

I’m enormously grateful to Dr Mike Hayward who advised on matters medical, often at inconvenient times of the day and night, though being a GP he is probably used to this. Any misinterpretations of his advice are my own fault. Thanks also to Wing Commander Neil Mitchell MBE and the staff at RAF Benson who showed me how to fly a helicopter and survive. To my editors Suzanne Baboneau and Rochelle Venables I am, as ever, hugely indebted, and a large helping of gratitude goes to my long-suffering family, my PA Caroline Mitchell and my literary agent Luigi Bonomi. They are, to a man–and woman–unfailingly patient and encouraging in equal measure; two commodities without which any writer is lost.

Epigraph

The best doctors are Dr Diet,
Dr Quiet, and Dr Merryman.

16th-century proverb

Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 1

Years ago we discovered the exact point, the dead centre of middle age. It comes when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush up to the net.

Nods and Becks, Franklin P. Adams, 1881–1960