Tools that time forgot - and why we shouldn't

Walk into any garden centre and you'll be bamboozled by a wall of the latest new-release tools promising to revolutionise your gardening life. 'Forget about your old tools, they say, 'these ones are shiny, better, titanium-infused, space age marvels with ergonomic grips and all! And yet, a curious thing sometimes happens when you actually start digging in earnest: the spade bends, the handle creaks ominously, and you begin to wonder whether the pre-power tool gardeners, who managed their entire estates without gimmicky garden gadgets, might, just maybe, have been onto something. They were.