Mary Portas is a fan of ferns, roses and plans to go badger watching... naked

The Queen of Shops meets the King of Gardens

Mary Portas is a broadcaster, writer and retail consultant, who revolutionised shopping in the 90s with her bold approach to retail and many iconic window displays. She’s in our garden to talk about her new book; I Shop, Therefore I am: The ‘90s, Harvey Nicks and Me, which is out now. 

Mary spends time between London and her home in the Cotswolds, where she’s often seen taking a trip up the steep slopes of Swift’s Hill. She adores ferns, is fanatical about roses, kisses moss, hugs trees and shares a terrific story about the irises from her very first front garden. 

With such retail expertise at our disposal, Adam and Mary chat about what garden centres are doing right, and where they can make gains, while Caitlin gets the detail on some of Mary’s most memorable ‘90s moments, including payback for a sexist photographer. 

As for the naked badger watching... it’ll only make sense right at the end. 

Let us know if you’re enjoying Outsiding and please send us your favourite outside places, memories, smells and gardening questions to [email protected]

Follow Outsiding on Substack for gardening tips, tricks, upcoming live Q&As with Adam and the progress of Caitlin’s garden project. Find us on Instagram too. 

You can watch full episodes of Outsiding on Spotify and YouTube. 

Outsiding is a Cold Glass Production.

00:00 Welcome Back & Bread Burdens

01:24 Listener Question

04:48 Today’s Guest is Mary Portas

06:41 Mary’s Childhood Garden

09:46 Cotswold Living

12:05 Garden Centre Design Faux Pas

16:14 Ask Adam

18:31 Window Dressing at Harvey Nichols

24:00 Dealing with Sexism

25:20 Quickfire Quiz

28:20 Bird of The Week

31:23 Naked Badger Watching

32:30 Adam’s Gift for Mary

34:56 Goodbye & Join our Community!

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