Brian Cunningham

Brian Cunningham is a Gardener who was born in 1975 and was brought up in St Andrews, Scotland

He first got interested in gardening at just 9 years old as he helped the Greenkeeper at the bowling club his mother worked at.

After leaving school, Brian became an apprentice at Craigtoun Country Park.

His past Gardening roles were at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh, St Andrews Botanic Gardens and the Backhouse Rossie Estate near Auchtermuchty.

In 2012, Brian became Head Gardener at Scone Palace near Perth, Scotland and still is to the present day.

From Little Acorns

In 2015 the television programme Beechgrove Gardens visited Scone Palace for their Chilli Festival.

Carole Baxter, a Presenter on Beechgrove Gardens challenged Brian to a Chilli eating contest and he went down well (unlike the Chillies!)

After the challenge Brian Cunningham became a guest presenter on Beechgrove Gardens.

In 2018, Beechgrove Gardens celebrated its 40th year on BBC Scotland.

In 2019. Presenter Jim McColl at the age of 83 retired, after being BBCs longest serving gardening presenter after more than 40 years on screen.

The Programme changed its name from Beechgrove Gardens to Beechgrove.

Alongside Brian Cunningham the current presenters on Beechgrove in 2020 are George Anderson, Carole Baxter, Chris Beardshaw, Kirsty Wilson and Sophie McKilligan.

For the new season of Beechgrove 2021 he is joined by 2 new Presenters Mairi Rattray and Calum Clunie.

Brian is married to Alison and their children often feature on Beechgrove showing how the whole family can be involved in the garden.

Brian's children, Eilidh and Ben are certainly following in their fathers footsteps with their knowledge of wildlife gardening and growing their own.

They bring a whole new element to the programme that other gardening programmes do not have and hopefully encourage the next generation of Gardeners to give it a go.