This year at Chelsea personality seemed to overshadow substance so perhaps you will forgive me for following the trend, but first the problems. We arrived to find our site a quagmire after the previous week’s heavy rain, churned up by the heavy machinery used to construct the Great Pavilion, and flooded for a second time by a burst water main. We then had to spend the next ten days working with no room to manoeuvre, surrounded by three Show Gardens, and constantly interrupted by the media frenzy across the road. Ho-Hum!

 

In fact we enjoyed every minute of it and I applaud our whole crew who rose magnificently to the occasion. By the middle of the build I was not so sprightly myself as waking one morning it took me at least half an hour to decide which leg to try to move first! This year the crew was led from the front by Sean, who, amongst a succession of gruelling 12 hour plus days, managed to find time to indulge in his passion for machinery. Steve contributed in his own impeccable fashion, Ted ground on relentlessly, and Lee, Nelson, Nunu and Paul were rocks.
 

The fruits of their labours were extraordinary and, in my opinion, by far the best of the many Chelsea exhibits we have staged. Our garden was inspired by a derelict Somerset Priory which is in the process of being restored by the National Trust. On one of my many pilgrimages to the Priory I was struck by how wonderful it would be to design a garden around the dereliction, incorporating the ruins where applicable and restoring former structures for new uses where suitable.
 

To this end the Cloister of Tracery Windows became a secluded passageway from which to view the peaceful scene. In the centre of the garden a solitary obelisk echoed the Royal Hospital Monument in this, the Royal Horticultural Society’s bicentennary. There are reminders of a once fortified keep in the Ruined Tower and the partially ruined great hall has been cleverly adapted to become an Outdoor Room. The dilapidated entrance porch is transformed into a Grotto complete with water feature.

 

Back to the personalities. The star of the show on our garden was undoubtedly Cuthbert ‘The Water Butt’ whose posterior was probably photographed more often than Diarmuid’s face! Although I get the feeling that not a lot of people believe my story, Cuthbert is in fact an adaptation of a Gargoyle on the tower of St Cuthbert’s Church in Wells. Although the original’s purpose was to channel the rainwater from the tower away from the masonry, ours serves a more practical garden function and usually procures a smile, if not a chuckle, from those who spot him.

 
It never ceases to amaze me how the planting transforms our structures into the sort of garden that most of the visitors I spoke to voted as their favourite. It’s all down to the subtle skills of Sue Robinson and her assistant Rachel Arden who were lent a hand by the familiarly named James, Donna and Andrew Hillier. Their clever combination of trees, shrubs and perennials from the Hillier catalogue as well as the splendid roses supplied by Robert Mattock was acclaimed by many visitors to make the only ‘real’ garden at the Show.
 
I’m sure that many of you have joined me in watching avidly as the story of Diarmuid Gavin’s Garden has unfolded before our eyes on the BBC on Tuesday evenings of late. Every combatant (literally!) in the whole saga has had more than their fifteen minutes of fame, at least all those except the poor unfortunate souls who have to demolish the whole shenanigan in twelve hours after the Show has finished. I pay tribute to two of the guys who tirelessly built and then demolished our exhibit – to say they gave their all is an understatement!
 
 
 

Tim Redwood, June 2004

  
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Chelsea Flower Show
2004

   


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