What started with a walk through a Japanese garden has turned one Bristol dad’s backyard into a $25,000 passion project.
Martin Fitton, 58, began transforming his garden in 2009 and has been adding Japanese features ever since. His backyard now includes a teahouse, a water dragon, a monk’s Zen space and bonsai trees.
Fitton’s garden has also caught the attention of Tokyo TV, which made a feature on it and flew him to Japan for three days in February this year. During the trip, he visited Japanese gardens and worked with gardeners and monks.
He said: “It has all come as quite a shock, one moment I’m building my garden and the next I’m being flown out to Japan to work with gardeners, monks and learn how to tie bamboo knots!
“The places they took me to were absolutely amazing and I couldn’t believe it because they would take me somewhere and I would say, ‘oh wow this is a place I based part of my garden off’.
“It’s as if they were watching over me, saw what I was doing and then planned my dream.”
Fitton said he has also heard from people through his Facebook page, YouTube channel and website.
He said: “I am overwhelmed with the attention and I get a lot of people contacting me through my Facebook page, YouTube channel and website, saying I have given them inspiration to go out in their gardens and create their own Japanese garden or finish something they started years ago.
“They also say after seeing my Facebook posts and reels they feel calm, happy and take their mind off problems in their life.”
Fitton first visited Japan last year with his wife, Cydnie, for three weeks. On his later visit with the TV Tokyo film crew, he was taken to Adachi Museum of Art, which the source describes as the best garden in the world.
He said his interest in Japanese garden design began 16 years ago during a family trip to Compton Acres.
Fitton said: “I remember walking through the Japanese gardens and seeing the tea house and thought, ‘wow, I am going to create this at home.’
“I then continued on with the Japanese theme ever since and have taught myself.”
He opens the garden to the public and offers cakes, tea and coffee, with the money going back into features and maintenance. Three times a year, he opens it for charity and donates all profits to the National Garden Scheme.
In the last year, Fitton also transformed his front garden into a dry riverbed inspired by his time working with gardeners in Kyoto and by the rocks and small plants he saw in Japan. He said it took 16 hours.
He builds nearly everything himself and said working with materials available in the UK can be difficult.
He said: “The only downfall is using the materials we have available here in the U.K. and then transforming them to create the look.
“That is the hard bit, but it’s so rewarding when it works.
“The Japanese obviously build a lot from bamboo, which is useful for them but hard for us due to the quality and accessibility of the trunks here and intricate skills required to master it.”
Fitton said that despite spending around $25,000 overall, he has kept the gardening itself to a small budget by sourcing cheaper materials and doing the work himself.
He said: “I often try to find the best materials the cheapest I can and build it myself which saves a lot of money.
“I don’t earn a penny on it, everything I get goes back into the garden.”
South West Koi supplied Fitton with a filter that has inspired his next project, a new waterfall for the pond.
He said, “I am going to build a massive waterfall into my pond.
“I’ve already got the rocks lined up!”
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