Alan Partridge gifts garden to nature reserve

The Alan Partridge Sound Bath Garden won a gold medal at Hampton Court Garden Festival this year

The moment Alan Partridge brought a new girlfriend on a date to an owl sanctuary has become a fan favourite, so it seems fitting that the fictional Norfolk broadcaster has now gifted a sound garden to a nature reserve.

The gold award-winning garden at London's Hampton Court Garden Festival was originally created to launch Alan Partridge's latest podcast series earlier this year, with a speaker system broadcasting some classic soundbites.

It has now been redesigned to transform natural surroundings into sound at the Pensthorpe nature reserve, near Fakenham, in Norfolk.

"Alan... gifted it to the people of Norfolk - and Pensthorpe was chosen," said the reserve's managing director, Ben Marshall.

Ben Marshall said the 700-acre reserve had welcomed the Norfolk icon's gift of a garden

"It's something we could have only have dreamt of - we wouldn't have had the resource to have pulled it off on our own.

"Being able to get this gift and turn it into what we've got now - it's something we're really proud to be the custodian of and it will absolutely enhance the visitor experience."

Mr Marshall said they had to keep the news secret for almost a year after receiving a phone call inquiring if they would be interested in permanently hosting the spoof TV host's South Bath Garden.

The garden started off life transmitting soundbites from the irritating spoof broadcaster

The Hampton Court showpiece was designed by Partridge creator Steve Coogan and north Norfolk's Carey Garden Design Studio, before sound artist Justin Wiggan converted it into a bio-sonification garden for Pensthorpe.

The installation will open on Saturday - with visitors able to relax to musical rhythms generated by electrodes attached to plants in order to pick up their electrical impulses.

Huge speakers, tubes, pipes and water features will produce sounds at different frequencies across the site.

It has been planted with an assortment of plants native to Norfolk in a further nod to the comic character's county roots.

The fictional broadcaster has had many jobs including a stint as a DJ at his local Radio Norwich

"A year ago none of us would have known what this word [bio-sonification] means, but it's all about bringing the hidden frequencies in plants to life," said Mr Marshall.

"As people walk through it, they will be hearing the rhythm of the garden and music... to hopefully relax and connect with nature."

Special frequencies used in meditation have also been featured and will be changed with the seasons to help benefit visitor wellbeing, according to Pensthorpe.

Coogan's Bafta award-winning character started off life as a sports presenter on BBC Radio 4's On the Hour in 1991.

A flurry of various television series, a film, books and podcasts have followed, with the hapless host currently on screen with a new mockumentary about mental health, How Are You.

Seen back in residence at his Norfolk oasthouse after a spell in the Middle East, it surely can only be a matter of time before Partridge lands at the local spot for his own a-ha moment.