Gareth Austin is well known figure around the peninsula. Three years ago Gareth opened the Courtyard Lifestyle & Garden Centre in Newtowncunningham. This is celebration in itself but to add to this, a jubilant Gareth has just become a father with his wife, Leanne, having given birth to their first child, a beautiful baby girl!
Gareth’s retail business is complemented by an extensive landscaping service and he has jobs as far a field as Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Dublin, Belfast and of course throughout Donegal, where he works on a variety of projects from small gardens right through to large civil engineering projects.
What is the name of your new addition to the family?
Her name is Connie Louise and she is adorable!
What have you given up for lent?
Bread…Which is hard because I love Batch Loaf from Highland Bakery, nothing nicer than a slice of batch with some butter!
What would you never throw away?
Hard to pick, either my laptop, Mobile or PalmPilot, I do so much work on the go; I could never function without them.
What book are you reading?
Jeremy Clarkson’s “I know you got soul”. I have all his books and I love his look on life and his sense of humour.
Have you been to the cinema recently?
Yes, I went the other week to see “I am Legend”, -very very good. I don’t think I have sat in a quieter cinema since Jurassic Park came out all those years ago.
What section of the newspaper do you turn to first?
Weather, Always get the Farmers Journal and go straight to the weather section.
What is your idea of a good night out?
Getting home, seeing my wife and family, and then falling asleep in front of the fire!
.
Most embarrassing moment of your life?
Walking across a car park to meet a gaggle of architects and engineers on a site, not expecting to slip and fall on some black ice in front of everyone!
What is your idea of a great meal?
Some very good home-made pasta with a light mushroom sauce, or with a seafood mix.
Have you a favourite TV programme?
Sopranos has got to be the greatest TV show made of all time, I also enjoy Law & Order and Lost.
How do you relax?
I try to look after my own garden and then I enjoy walking my dogs.
What job did you want to do when you were a child?
I always wanted to be a gardener, from a very young age. I have two uncles who are involved in specialist plant propagation and I used to spend so much time around them, watching what they were doing. They were great characters, who told the funniest of stories whilst they worked.
What is your ideal car?
I have always had a thing for a nice Estate car, either an Audi or BMW estate, but I’m not a great car fan. As long as they go I’m happy.
Where do you like to go for your holidays?
It has to be America. I love Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersery.
Your idea of heaven?
Mmmm…Spending time with my wife and daughter is wonderful, but I also love talking about life with older people, listening to their stories about a way of life people of my generation could never fully understand. I can listen to their stories for hours and hours.
Your idea of hell?
Having to travel great distances to work every morning, I feel for those people who have to sit on the M50 for 3 hours to get home from work in the evening, pure hell. When we are landscaping up in Belfast and the big cities we always close the site at 4pm so we can get out before the traffic builds up.
What famous people would you invite around for dinner and why?
Oh…I’ve actually had this chat with Leanne, my wife, before. 1. Jeremy Clarkson – such a funny man, with a unique view on life, 2. Adolf Hitler – would be interesting to engage a man who had such an effect on history and the world, 3. Bill Clinton – read his book and a man who had such stories to tell. Can I have more?
Favourite animal?
Dogs, such great companions, they ask for so very little back in return for the love they show. It makes me really mad when I hear about people mistreating animals, starving them, beating them and the like. One of the few things I cannot watch on television is animals suffering.
Biggest fear?
I don’t really have a ‘biggest fear’, I believe that anything can be tackled and overcome, why be afraid of something? – Fear doesn’t do anybody any good.
Biggest thrill?
Seeing my Daughter born, nothing can describe that feeling.
The world’s most irritating invention?
Mobile phones, I have two, they go all the time, couldn’t function without them, but God they get annoying when they ring all the time, so much so I have mine on vibrate only!
What is your idea of a good night in?
Having a few visitors round, some food and plenty of stories and chat.
Biggest disappointment?
Never being able to go to the World Cup to watch Scotland.
Which period in history would you most like to have lived through?
The American depression, I have always been fascinated with the Hoover Dam, and how it was constructed during such a miserable time in American history.
World’s most useful invention?
The internal combustion engine. Where would we be without it?
Personal philosophy?
Ask questions of everyone, other people will always know more than me.
Gareth’s retail business is complemented by an extensive landscaping service and he has jobs as far a field as Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Dublin, Belfast and of course throughout Donegal, where he works on a variety of projects from small gardens right through to large civil engineering projects.
What is the name of your new addition to the family?
Her name is Connie Louise and she is adorable!
What have you given up for lent?
Bread…Which is hard because I love Batch Loaf from Highland Bakery, nothing nicer than a slice of batch with some butter!
What would you never throw away?
Hard to pick, either my laptop, Mobile or PalmPilot, I do so much work on the go; I could never function without them.
What book are you reading?
Jeremy Clarkson’s “I know you got soul”. I have all his books and I love his look on life and his sense of humour.
Have you been to the cinema recently?
Yes, I went the other week to see “I am Legend”, -very very good. I don’t think I have sat in a quieter cinema since Jurassic Park came out all those years ago.
What section of the newspaper do you turn to first?
Weather, Always get the Farmers Journal and go straight to the weather section.
What is your idea of a good night out?
Getting home, seeing my wife and family, and then falling asleep in front of the fire!
.
Most embarrassing moment of your life?
Walking across a car park to meet a gaggle of architects and engineers on a site, not expecting to slip and fall on some black ice in front of everyone!
What is your idea of a great meal?
Some very good home-made pasta with a light mushroom sauce, or with a seafood mix.
Have you a favourite TV programme?
Sopranos has got to be the greatest TV show made of all time, I also enjoy Law & Order and Lost.
How do you relax?
I try to look after my own garden and then I enjoy walking my dogs.
What job did you want to do when you were a child?
I always wanted to be a gardener, from a very young age. I have two uncles who are involved in specialist plant propagation and I used to spend so much time around them, watching what they were doing. They were great characters, who told the funniest of stories whilst they worked.
What is your ideal car?
I have always had a thing for a nice Estate car, either an Audi or BMW estate, but I’m not a great car fan. As long as they go I’m happy.
Where do you like to go for your holidays?
It has to be America. I love Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersery.
Your idea of heaven?
Mmmm…Spending time with my wife and daughter is wonderful, but I also love talking about life with older people, listening to their stories about a way of life people of my generation could never fully understand. I can listen to their stories for hours and hours.
Your idea of hell?
Having to travel great distances to work every morning, I feel for those people who have to sit on the M50 for 3 hours to get home from work in the evening, pure hell. When we are landscaping up in Belfast and the big cities we always close the site at 4pm so we can get out before the traffic builds up.
What famous people would you invite around for dinner and why?
Oh…I’ve actually had this chat with Leanne, my wife, before. 1. Jeremy Clarkson – such a funny man, with a unique view on life, 2. Adolf Hitler – would be interesting to engage a man who had such an effect on history and the world, 3. Bill Clinton – read his book and a man who had such stories to tell. Can I have more?
Favourite animal?
Dogs, such great companions, they ask for so very little back in return for the love they show. It makes me really mad when I hear about people mistreating animals, starving them, beating them and the like. One of the few things I cannot watch on television is animals suffering.
Biggest fear?
I don’t really have a ‘biggest fear’, I believe that anything can be tackled and overcome, why be afraid of something? – Fear doesn’t do anybody any good.
Biggest thrill?
Seeing my Daughter born, nothing can describe that feeling.
The world’s most irritating invention?
Mobile phones, I have two, they go all the time, couldn’t function without them, but God they get annoying when they ring all the time, so much so I have mine on vibrate only!
What is your idea of a good night in?
Having a few visitors round, some food and plenty of stories and chat.
Biggest disappointment?
Never being able to go to the World Cup to watch Scotland.
Which period in history would you most like to have lived through?
The American depression, I have always been fascinated with the Hoover Dam, and how it was constructed during such a miserable time in American history.
World’s most useful invention?
The internal combustion engine. Where would we be without it?
Personal philosophy?
Ask questions of everyone, other people will always know more than me.
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