WHAT else would you give a man who has been keeping an eye on Worldham’s wildlife for his 90 birthday but a bug house which now sits in pride of place in the garden of Brian Jones and Mary Trigwell Jones in the village?

Both have a passion for gardening and the animals, insects and butterflies that inhabit their garden and one they share with the many visitors who come on the days they open they lovely garden to the public.

For Brian, the rural life in Worldham is ideal as he has been a lover of country life and its wildlife since being a small boy in Wales.

He has also had the luck to live in scenic places spending a lot of his boyhood in a beautiful village in mid-Wales where his father was postmaster, in a house with views across the countryside.

It began his love affair with nature and the countryside and noting the wildlife, particularly the many foxes, hedgehogs and small mammals that lived in the garden, and the different species of birds.

Again there was another house with wonderful views when his father’s job moved him to Shropshire and Brian completed his education with top exam results, and his headmaster suggested he should train as a teacher.

However, it was 1943 and the Second World War was raging so Brian joined the Royal Engineers and found himself in the Middle East, in charge of power station near the Suez Canal.

When he got leave he had the chance to observe a different kind of wildlife.

“Although we were stationed in a vast desert there was a chance to see exotic birds, especially the bee eater, and there were a lot of different species of lizards,” he said.

After the war he trained as a teacher, specialising in biology, and became a master at Dulwich College in London.

By now he was married to his first wife and they were to have three children.

“I was lucky as we had a house in East Dulwich on a hill, by woodland with views over London and with a lovely garden filled with birds,” he said.

After he retired from Dulwich College, Brian, now divorced, decide to continue his education by taking a training course in Swaziland in Africa with the Cambridge Instructors Examination and it was there he met Mary.

What began as a friendship, exploring the beauty of the African countryside, ended in romance and marriage.

The couple moved into Mary’s house in the early 1990s. Her father bought the house ‘Selborne’ in 1959 and since then Mary has been very much a part of the East Worldham community while combining a successful teaching career at both Mill Chase and Alton College. Brian also took up teaching at the college.

Now retired, the couple continue a busy work schedule. Taking over from Peter Cole, who set up the modern version of Kings World, the parish magazine, Brian was its editor for a period and now writes its wildlife column.

For 15 years Brian also taught biology to Alton U3A.

“It was interesting the variety of subjects we covered under that title,” he said.

Mary, who is a parish councillor, is also clerk of the School Trust, set up when the village school closed. This educational charity covers Church of England schools in the area such as Selborne and Blackmoor, raising money to give financial assistance to those locally who need help.

She is also the assistant county gardening organiser for Hampshire National Gardens Scheme, so it is appropriate the couple’s garden is one of the most frequently visited. It is listed in the National Gardens Scheme’s annual book and a delight of flowers and shrubs throughout the seasons.

Now the garden has a new addition, The Bug House, made by Sue Tupper and Mike Clarke and beautifully designed to encourage all insect life.

It was a surprise for Brian’s 90 birthday in December and, admitting he is delighted with his present, he said: “We are waiting for the first tenants to move in.”

Selborne at East Worldham, the last house in the village on the road to Alton, is open to the public on April 16-17, from 2pm-5pm both days.