Clarence Hamilton Creasey, my father's father, was born in 1874 in Salford and was fortunate enough to get an education. He became a science teacher, then the youngest principal of a technical school and later a schools' inspector.

As his retirement approached he seems to have had some sort of mid-life crisis and decided to turn his family's life upside-down. In 1929 he moved to Llangernyw to create the garden of his dreams on the side of an abandoned slate quarry. Its major asset was a magnificent waterfall reminiscent of one he must have seen in Bodnant. The river and waterfall were the focal point of what was to become a wonderful garden planted with rare and newly introduced plants.

But this move came at some cost to his family as the land was rented and had no house. He solved this problem by building a shed (known as "the hut") in which he lived for a number of years while his wife Nell and youngest son Ron moved to St Asaph.

He was a familiar sight in the village, visiting the post office two or three times a day, always accompanied by his little white dog. Every evening would eat at the Bridge Inn, followed by a few hours of convivial drinking both there and at the nearby Stag Hotel, before making his way back to his hut.

He designed and built a hydraulic ram at the bottom of the garden in order to pump up spring water for drinking. This water was also piped up to a large tank in the garden of an adjacent property and was for the use of the village in case of water shortages in dry summers.

To commemorate the coronation of George VI (1937), Clarence organised the planting of trees throughout the village and the creation of a rockery at the northern end of the village.

HG Wells was one of his friends and Clarence had spent time as a scientific advisor and researcher for him. At one time there had been talk collaborating with Wells on the book "The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1932, Heinemann), but as this coincided with the move to Llangernyw, Clarence decided that he would rather spend the time creating the garden.

The Hut gets an upgrade.