A green-fingered former French teacher from the Netherlands who settled in Ceredigion in the 1980s is celebrating three decades of opening up his garden to the public.

Wil Akkermans’ Cae Hir Gardens, near Lampeter, have been wowing the public as part of the Open Garden scheme for 30 years this year. But what brought the Dutchman to the area?

It all started in 1983 when, with his wife Gillian and their three young children in tow, Wil moved from his native Netherlands to west Wales.

Although a former French teacher, horticulture was in his blood; his family name dating back to the late 1700s in the Dutch nursery trade.

With little more than a dream and the promise of a job as a physiotherapist in Bronglais Hospital for Gillian (the exact job in the exact hospital she had left when she and Wil had married eight years earlier), they set about searching for the perfect location to create a garden for the public to enjoy.

Four years earlier Wil had is ‘eureka’ moment after a visit to RHS Garden Wisley, realising that creating a garden for the enjoyment of all was what he too wanted to do. The plot they found which suited their list of requirements, both practical and desired, was called Cae Hir, a virtually derelict smallholding in the village of Cribyn, near Lampeter.

For six years Wil worked on the six acres of land with a spade, a wheelbarrow, a trowel and a hoe, powered only by blood, sweat and a single-minded determination to get the garden ready to be opened in 1989 on his father’s 100th birthday.

He succeeded. Six years of backbreaking effort had resulted in the transformation of fields of rough grazing into Cae Hir Gardens.

On 30 April, 1989, the garden was first unveiled to the public.

And 15 years later, in 2004, it was invited by the Royal Horticultural Society to become one of its first Partner Gardens – an accolade afforded to only 100 of the UK’s best gardens at that time, including the grand gardens of many stately homes such as Blenheim Palace. This was, and remains, a real achievement for such a young garden created from nothing by just one man and his hand tools.

Dr Tim Upson, RHS director of horticulture, said: “The RHS is proud that Cae Hir Gardens joined us as one of the original RHS Partner Gardens 15 years ago. The garden offers a stunning mixture of both formal and more relaxed planting with beautiful views.”

Cae Hir Gardens can be found at Cribyn, Lampeter, Ceredigion SA48 7NG. For more information, call 01570 471116 or visit www.caehirgardens.com

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