“Mrs Jane” in Japan: my friend Jane Hasell-McCosh from @dalemainmansion near #Penrith, known to preserve makers in the UK as the founder of the World Marmalade Awards, is curiously also very well known and much-loved across in Japan as the sweet friendly #Cumbrian gardening megastar of the national broadcaster NHK TV’s series “Magical Garden Dalemain: Rural life in the Lake District of England”, 「魔法の庭 ダルメイン～イギリス湖水地方の田園ライフ～, which had been for the last three seasons (since 2016) a smash hit for the huge Japan Broadcasting Corporation, even getting its own Christmas specials to boot. The series follows the life of the garden at Dalemain over a year, and was extensively filmed so that the episodes have some amazing shots. When I was in Tokyo a few weeks ago I got the sense that her visit this week would bring in lots of people, “it’ll be like the Beatles first visit to America” I joked. Well…it’s incredible! As Dalemain has it’s own brand of marmalade the link with the TV show and Jane has attracted followers from around Japan to visit #Osaka this week for a special British Week under the banner @hankyuworldfair at #hankyudepartmentstore. Jane has being talking about gardening, life at Dalemain, her family and husband affectionately known by viewers as “Mr Jane”, and her love of good marmalade, signing jars of marmalade for fans of her show.
