PATIENCE is a virtue every gardener grows to understand. Attention to detail at every stage is needed if you are to succeed.

So Teresa Crow was uniquely prepared for her three-year battle to bring one of Britain's most popular gardening programmes to her corner of North Yorkshire.

And the seeds she planted back in March 2000 finally blossomed this week when BBC Radio Four's Gardener's Question Time descended on Great Smeaton village hall, in North Yorkshire.

The homely atmosphere sparked nostalgic memories for long-time listeners. The first Question Time broadcast from York.

Still, there were times when Mrs Crow thought the day would never come. The BBC's list of organisations wanting to host the show was long and it seemed as though the recording equipment and the panel of green-fingered experts would never arrive.

However, years as a gardener had taught Mrs Crow the value of persistence.

After a three-year wait and scores of phone calls, Mrs Crow and members of Great Smeaton village hall management committee were delighted to welcome the programme's experts Eric Robson, Bob Flowerdew, John Cushnie and Matthew Biggs on Wednesday evening.

Mrs Crow said: "It was back in March 2000, after hearing that one of the shows was recorded in a village hall, that I decided to ring the BBC and ask if it could come to Great Smeaton."

Great Smeaton's details were put on a waiting list and Mrs Crow, a retired civil servant, liaised with the show's production team on a regular basis.

She said: "I would call about four or five times a year and had to be very persistent. I was determined to bring the show to Great Smeaton."

Just before Christmas, the BBC called with the news that she had waited for years to hear.

Mrs Crow said: "I was elated, it was absolutely great news. I just could not believe it was actually going to happen.

Two programmes were recorded, one for Great Smeaton and another for a North Yorkshire show, and Mrs Crow said it was a phenomenal success.

She said: "I have listened to the show for years on my radio, but actually being there when the challenging questions were being answered and being part of the humour was wonderful.

The 61-year-old mother-of-three has taken a keen interest in gardening since she and her husband, Graham, moved to Great Smeaton in 1977.

She said: " It has three gardens and so really I have no choice but to enjoy gardening."

The programme will be aired on Sunday, May 11, and the North Yorkshire programme on Sunday, June 15. l You can read The Northern Echo's gardening expert, Brigid Press, every Saturday.

From a little acorn, a big oak grew . . .

GARDENER'S Question Time took to the airwaves on April 9, 1947.

Since then, it has taken root in the schedules to become one of the world's most enduring radio programmes.

The show was confined to listeners in the Northern region until 1957, when it finally went national.

For decades, it enjoyed a popular Sunday lunchtime slot alongside The Navy Lark, The Clitheroe Kid and Round The Horne. Only Gardeners' Question Time still broadcasts.

Over the years, it has answered well over 30,000 questions. The panel members have been guests of a diversity of gardening clubs and other groups, including Leyhill Open Prison, the Palace of Westminster, and a nudist club in Wales.

For the first 47 years, the team was shown the questions in advance, but that tradition was dropped in 1994.

Nowadays, being a panel member is not for the faint-hearted, but for those with a depth of gardening knowledge and an incisive grasp of a question.

Second rural show to film in the region

THE BBC will be recording another famous programme in North Yorkshire later this year.

One Man and His Dog will be filming at Castle Howard on July 19 and 20, when there will be three teams of triallists led by celebrity team captains, one of whom will be Ben Fogle.

The presenter will be Clarissa Dickson-Wright, originally one of television's Two Fat Ladies, and now the presenter of the Clarissa and the Countryman show, while the expert and commentator will be Gus Dermoddy.

Members of the public are invited to come along to watch the event on the Saturday, from 2pm until 5pm, and on the Sunday, from 10am until 5pm