Is this Britain’s tackiest garden? Homeowner slammed for ripping up family’s ‘beautiful’ lawn and laying fake grass but says he had ‘no choice’ because it was ‘a jungle’

A new homeowner has defended the destruction of a family’s “beautiful” garden after critics slammed him for laying down strips of artificial grass.

Jack Bannister, 34, bought the three-bedroom house in Clitheroe, Lancs, for just over £200,000 in 2021.

Then he brought out all the flowers, trees and plants carefully cultivated by the previous owner, Sam Withers.

Bannister replaced the manicured lawn with mismatched strips of artificial grass, sparking outrage on a garden account on X, formerly known as Twitter, after Sam’s son Ben shared a photo of the garden on his old splendor.

He posted: ‘Parents buy new construction, mom creates garden, parents sell house, buyers do this…’

Critics were quick to compare the “depressing” new garden to “a prison yard” and called the landscaping renovation a “disgrace.”

Bannister replaced the manicured lawn and flowers with mismatched strips of artificial grass

One user wrote: “That’s heartbreaking, many would love a garden like the original and the work and love the original owners put into creating it has been destroyed by whatever that wildlife disaster is.”

Another said: “I can’t express how beautiful your mother’s garden was.” It’s like a real-life example of how to garden for nature. It’s absolutely shocking that new buyers have matched the price of plastic.’

One angry gardener wrote: ‘OMG this is one of the most depressing things I have seen in a long time. Thousands of pounds worth of plants destroyed.’

One woman compared the new backyard to a prison, adding: “They took Eden and created hell.”

But Bannister defended his choice and said he had to give the green space a facelift because it had become a “jungle”.

He told MailOnline: “People have said, ‘What have you done?’ and ‘what happened to the garden.’

‘My next door neighbor said it took her years to create it and she spent hours on it.

But in the end everything had become a kind of jungle, since she had not worked much in the last few months.

‘I felt I had no choice as it was a full-time job. She was a dazzling mind and she must have been an expert gardener.

People criticized Mr Bannister’s ‘depressing’ renovation in a gardening account on X

Bannister said the previous owner’s (pictured) garden was “stunning” and said she must have been an “expert gardener”.

Bannister said he laid down the artificial grass (pictured) because it was “easier to manage.”

Mr Bannister’s back garden, which has stunning views of the nearby hills, now has an office with plans for a barbecue area.

The IT consultant rents out his house for £119 a night on Airbnb and spent £15,000 renovating the back garden.

Plants and trees were also uprooted from the front yard, which is now bare concrete.

He said: “Artificial grass is much easier to deal with, especially as I rent it out on the weekends to Airbnb customers.”

“It’s not finished yet and there’s a little more to do, but I have an office there now.”

Neighbor Sam Smith, 47, said: “It’s a real shame – it was a beautiful garden which was destroyed.”

“But a lot of people do it with artificial grass, because it’s much easier.”