Is Stuart Grindle the most dedicated gardener in South Yorkshire?

He threw open his gates in aid of charity last weekend but admitted that it was both “pleasure and pain” seeing people tramping on his perfectly cut grass...and he went to work repairing any minor damage to the turf after the visitors had left.

Stuart, of Doncaster Road, Tickhill, said: “Most people probably only get out the lawnmower once a week but I cut my lawn twice-a-day, three days a week.”

Wife Anne (69) confirmed that she was allowed to walk on the hallowed turf, but said Stuart had banned his son Jonathan from playing football there when he was a boy.

“There were no ball games allowed,” she said. “Stuart always said there was a cricket field and a football field up the road he could use instead.”

Stuart, a former winner of the Doncaster In Bloom Best Garden competition, said his other most prized features were his large-leaved hostas, because of “the wonderful colours of the leaves”.

Dozens of people flocked to look round Stuart’s garden, with some comparing his vivid green lawn to a golf course green. With entry fees and a tombola stall, he and wife Anne collected a bumper £1,239, which will be split between St Mary’s Church in Tickhill, the Friends of Clifton Park’s World War Two memorial fund and his young relative Isabella Reynolds.

Stuart explained: “Isabella is Anne’s sister’s granddaughter who is severely disabled and the money will help the family greatly with the home adaptations they need to make.”