As for me, I’m a fence sitter. The little red-shirted men sitting with fishing poles beside ponds are — ouch — insufferably cute. Yet I also think there is way too much snobbery in gardening.

So if our gnomophobia is waning, that’s surely a good thing.

It’s good to confront the received wisdom that all gnomes are nasty," Mr. Llewelyn-Bowen said. Referring to his wife, he added: "Also, Jackie has had to overcome her poshness and confront her gnomophobia.

Ms Cathy Ratkisser…of GnomeWatch USA stirred up a hornets' nest when she protested at Wymsey's Gnomophobia (see last week's issue).