The Anniversary Garden in 2011

Sponsored by M&G

This was a garden designed by to be productive yet beautiful.

Curved woven willow raised beds topped with cedar coping were packed with vegetables, fruit and herbs mixed with herbaceous plants and flowering shrubs.

We put down cut natural stone paving and Breedon gravel paths leading to the beds and built a sweeping stone staircase above a sunken seating area with fireplace.

The greatest challenge was the installation of a glass floor on top of a pavilion to create a dining area looking onto the main garden. Working to tolerances on such a tight schedule and erecting a structure that was not only strong and safe enough to allow the platform to be used during the show but also able to be dismantled in a day at the close of the show was a real test and one that we are proud to have successfully achieved with little trouble. The result was dramatic and created a lot of interest from the public during the show.

The garden was awarded a Silver-Gilt Flora.

The Boat Race Anniversary Garden in 2004

Sponsored by Stonemarket

This garden was designed to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Oxford vs Cambridge University Boat Race.

Work started several months ahead of the show and included our involvement in the trial layouts of the unique paving design to be featured. The stone was precision-cut by water jets to replicate the actual route of the course through the Thames. The materials were produced at a high level of accuracy using engineering measurement and left NO room for error. The result was a large area of uniquely formed natural stone laid to fit like a jigsaw.

The garden was sunk by 600mm below ground level to give visitors a view down onto the scene. We were one of few, if not the only, excavated garden that year, making a bold statement.

Water channels formed the boundary on two sides of the garden making a direct connection with the theme, re-enforced with a unique overhead rowing boat and oars supporting an awning above a paved seating area or ‘party garden’ for the winners to celebrate in.

A connection to the universities was made by the inclusion of timber cloisters and grotesques (gargoyle-like masks) of former ‘Blues’, and the planting was chiefly blue.

The garden was the height of interest from all and awarded with a Silver Gilt, which was gratefully received after all of our hard work.