AN Amman Valley woman has won an award for her YouTube channel in the ‘gardening Oscars.’

Liz Zorab, who lived in Caldicot before moving to Ammanford, is a gardener, author, video-maker and YouTuber who is also a gardening expert on BBC Radio Wales.

She has been given the accolade of Vlog of the Year at the Garden Media Guild Awards.

Ms Zorab began her journey into ‘vlogging’ (video blogging for those unaware of the term) when she was living in Monmouthshire.

Initially she wrote a blog about setting up the tiny smallholding to document the changes that were being made to the land and her life.

She said: “After a year, I realised that I could offer more depth and detail if I created videos. So, in January 2017, I started making videos for my YouTube channel.

“After 19 months of daily vlogs sharing the everyday occurrences in our garden, I decided to change focus and create one video per week.”

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Ms Zorab now makes instructional, educational and inspirational videos and has almost 120,000 subscribers and each of her videos gaining tens of thousands of views.

“I continue to be surprised at the number of people that have chosen to subscribe to the channel,” said Ms Zorab. “More importantly, I am delighted by the supportive community of viewers. Not only do they leave great comments for me, but they support each other by answering queries and encouraging each other to garden.”

Ms Zorab and her family moved to Ammanford in the summer of 2021 and her channel also follows her process of setting up new gardens here.

She has also written a book called Grounded which tells the story of setting up the smallholding in Caldicot whilst being unwell and how her health improved as the gardens developed.

On November 25, Ms Zorab attended the Garden Media Guild Awards at London’s The Savoy. “As I spend most of my time on a Welsh mountainside in welly boots, jeans and an old waterproof jacket, it felt like a very special day out,” she said.

“I knew that my YouTube channel had been shortlisted, but I hadn’t considered that I might actually win.

“After the initial surprise of hearing ‘and the winner is Liz Zorab – Byther Farm’ all I could hear was my friends cheering and clapping as I walked to the stage to collect my award.

“I felt a mix of pride and feeling humbled. I am delighted that the last six years’ work has been recognised with this award and I look forward to seeing what comes next.”

The judges praised Ms Zorab’s ‘approachable and engaging’ videos. They said: “The winner’s style is approachable and engaging, yet practical.

"The videos are memorable and enjoyable to watch as well as conveying useful information, structured in a way that makes it easy to understand.

“The winner has a gentle presenting style, but a clear sense of personality emerges through what feels like a one-on-one chat and their messages of self-sufficient and sustainable growing is both aspirational and inspirational for today’s gardeners.”

You can see Ms Zorab’s videos here: https://www.youtube.com/c/LizZorab

She will also be releasing a new book called The Seasoned Gardener in April which shares her journey through a gardening year.