Gardeners’ World & Alan Titchmarsh Gardening Club 2025

If you look at a map of the UK mainland, halfway up is somewhere around the Lake District to Middlesborough (including the Shetlands would put it a lot further north).
If you're talking England, it's somewhere around Chesterfield.

 

If you look at a map of the U.K. mainland Shetland is a few islands just off Aberdeen.

 

If you look at an Atlas, rather than a map which, for convenience puts Shetland in a box east of Aberdeen to fit on one page, you will see that the Shetland Isles are, in fact, north of the Orkneys which puts them north of John O'Groats and 240+kms from Aberdeen which is on the east coast.

 

Trouble is with some maps that they have an odd projection that is aimed at certain areas, most make Scotland look a lot shorter than England due to the curve, it depends on where the centre of the view is.
Its also about trying to make something that is actually curved, flat.
I'm sure there is a much more scientific way of explaining it, but its something I kind of understand but cant explain.

 

Thank you for the information O-V I always wondered why the ferry took so long to arrive in Lerwick in the Shetlands from Aberdeen.

 

Google Maps

 

The problem with many maps is, especially when they do the weather on TV, the UK doesn't sit the way they often show it. They like to show it nice and 'square', whereas, in reality, it sits slightly tilted - so the S. East of England is further east, and the N. West of Scotland/Islands etc, are further west. It's why people don't always realise the differences in latitude/longitude etc.

As an aside -I've never been able to understand why they call areas like Manchester etc, the north of England. Really? North? They're about half way up the country. Is it because they draw a line [horizontally] so everything above that is - 'up north' ?
If that's the case, why do they have the Midlands....

 

@Tinkerton Off piste again but can't resist.........Cheshire stll produces Cheese - my No. 1 favourite with Lancashire cheese a close 2nd

 

Actually most of the people who live in manchester etc. consider themselves the north of England. I'm guessing its a bit north of the midlands.
I'm often confused when they talk about places like Oxford as being SE, to me its the midlands.
Its all relative to where you are I think.

 

Gardeners world is only on once a week, you need to fill the space with something.


We do stray off topic occasionally, well most of the time.

 

Apologies @Fat Controller. I think it was my fault for going off on a random tangent about accents/voices....
To get back on topic. I watched the Titchmarsh prog, yesterday evening. Patronising is the most polite word I can use when he introduced the item about the Japanese garden up here.
Sigh....
I find all the coverage of garden shows on these programmes too much now. Not for me, but as @pete says - it's about 'filling'

 

I could go off topic discussing going off topic.
But I won't

 

we have tried watching AT again this season but, I’m afraid, to no avail. Can’t get away with it. Nor Beechgrove. Even GW is getting fast forwarded more than it ever did. Probably because there is nothing new to know or of interest to us now.