Waitrose, the supermarket famed for its quality food offering, is venturing into the great outdoors this week with the launch of its first ever Waitrose gardening TV channel.
Featuring on the new channel will be Waitrose's own 'secret garden' at the Leckford Estate in Hampshire, which provides a location for new brand ambassador, Alan Titchmarsh, to give hints and horticultural tips to viewers.
The new TV channel, available online at www.waitrose.tv , will feature bespoke content with advice. Alan came on board at Waitrose earlier this year to help raise the profile of British agriculture and horticulture. His role is to offer expert gardening tips and tell the story of Waitrose produce.
Much of the content for Waitrose TV will be filmed in a garden at Longstock nursery, part of the supermarket's 4000 acre Leckford estate. The garden is being created by the Waitrose Head Gardener and his team to showcase a series of 'rooms' including a cottage garden, vegetable plot and wildlife area. Visitors to Waitrose TV will be able to watch videos filmed in the garden and presented by TV gardener, Matt James, which will inspire them to recreate the look in their own backyards. A series of 12 short ‘how to videos’ will launch fortnightly from July till October this year.
The launch of the new gardening TV channel and Waitrose garden comes in the same week as Waitrose launches its first television advert to feature Alan Titchmarsh.
The advert focuses on the great British seasonal favourite; strawberries and tells the story of the sweeter strawberry. The filming shows the process of carefully selecting varieties to ensure that customers enjoy sweet strawberries week in, week out.
Rupert Thomas, Marketing Director at Waitrose says: "We’ve always known that our customers enjoy gardening. Horticulture is a key area for growth within our business and we have expanded the range of plants and gardening tools in our shops and online.
"Alan's authority and knowledge really comes to the fore through this new channel, which will provide trustworthy advice to seasoned gardeners and horticultural novices alike.
Alan Titchmarsh says, ‘I’m really excited to be involved in the launch of Waitrose Gardening TV and the new Waitrose garden. It’s a great opportunity for me to share my gardening knowledge with Waitrose customers. It’s a unique idea for a supermarket to launch its own garden and it really gives me the freedom to show how a garden changes throughout the year with the seasons.’
The Waitrose Garden TV launches on June 19 to coincide with the new strawberry advert and can be accessed through Waitrose.com
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