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My grandfather created Bide-a-While

A childhood at Bide-a-While

The Bide-a-While garden was created by local engineer and businessman George Farr in the 1930s. He owned 2 allotment plots along the Old Bedford Road and turned them into a public pleasure garden, complete with mushroom house, decorative borders and trained fruit trees.

His grandson Geoffrey Farr was only a boy then, but he remembers his granddad and the garden with great fondness. He even named his home after the garden.

Geoffrey Farr outside his home in April 2024.

Video: Geoffrey Farr about his grandfather's garden

Transcript of the video and interview about Bide-a-While

Konni Deppe: Welcome to Bide-a-While orchard. Many people have very fond memories of this place, because it's been in Luton for a long time.

I spoke to the grandson of George Farr, Geoffrey Farr, who remembers this place from his childhood. He thinks the trees were planted in 1938, which would make them about 86 years old.

Geoffrey Farr: They were nearly all apple trees. There were two or three pear trees, and two or three plum trees, but mainly it was apples and it was mainly cooking apples. There were a few eaters. I remember Lord Darby was one of them and a Cox was another one of them, although Grandfather didn't like Cox's. He went for trees that were perhaps not as well known, Newton Wonder and things like that.

I was quite close to my grandfather really, admired his tenacity, especially [as] someone who was an orphan. He was a remarkable man. A lot of people remark about Bide-a-While to me, because I've been around a long time.

My mother got the bug - she loved gardening. My father used to plant cabbages and cut the grass. My mother's love of it - I caught the bug from her.

Konni Deppe: The love of gardening was passed down through the generations and Geoffrey's own garden has been a lifesaver.

Geoffrey Farr: I wouldn't be here now, if it wasn't for the garden. I mean, through the problems we had in 2020/22, the garden was a saviour as far as I was concerned.

On-screen titles: Geoffrey’s own home, outside of Luton, is called... Bide-a-While!

[Interview recorded on 30 April 2024]

For more details on the existing garden, visit Bide-a-While orchard.