After months of anticipation we’ve finally started building our  Artisan Garden for the NSPCC at the world famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show. This year’s garden, which is sponsored and supported by the lovely people at Sheila’s Wheels Insurance, will be our fifth garden and promises to be our best ever. The garden is a nostalgic thought-provoking garden, designed to get people to reflect on the preciousness and potential of childhood and to encourage them to think about what will they leave? as a legacy.

 The NSPCC is the only charity focused on ending child cruelty across the UK, driven by the simple belief that no child should suffer. The NSPCC’s life-changing work is funded almost exclusively by the kindness of the public – around one in every six pounds donated to the NSPCC comes from gifts in wills. Hopefully, if we can encourage people to reflect on their own childhood happy memories in this garden then we can get them to think about  helping  the NSPCC continue their amazing work with their own gift in their  will.

 We have 10 days to build our garden and after 3 days we are thrilled with our progress. We are on schedule to finish on Sunday 19th May. It’s quite humbling on day one when we arrive on site to see our plot marked out for us on a piece of bare grass, knowing that ten days later our garden will be judged by the RHS and more importantly by the gardening public.  Thankfully, everything has been planned out and we have a detailed build schedule, detailing exactly what we are going to be doing on what day and what we hope to achieve at the end of each day. We are just hoping for better weather than we have had over the last few weeks. So far the weather has been OK, but it is turning a bit more cooler and showery, typical Chelsea build up weather.

 We did feel a bit anxious on our first day when we turned up on site to be confronted with a blank space, our plot looked so space. Now that plants are going in, the garden is developing nicely.

Central to the garden is our beautiful rustic tree house, which is being built by forestry craftsman, Phil Game and Cormac Conway and his team from Conway Landscapes here in Bishop’s Stortford. Mark Sessions from Stortford based company ‘Aquatic Fanatics’ is constructing the water feature. Already the garden has a wonderful nostalgic feel and is getting a lot of attention.

The general weather conditions have been against us in the run up to Chelsea. The spring has been one of the latest that we can remember and consequently plants are 2-3 weeks behind where they should be. Everybody is in the same boat and as you walk around the show, there is very little flower colour to be seen at the moment. All in all a very worrying build-up and we’ll be taking it right up to the wire.

 It’s nice to meet up with old friends and familiar faces and fellow designers. Usually though, there’s no time for chat as everyone is focused on building their own garden’s. It’s only towards the end of the build, when some of the pressure is off, that people start to relax and talk to each other and everyone becomes more sociable.

 Our judgement day is Tuesday 21st May when we find out what medal we have been awarded and that’s also the day that the Show opens to the public. For us that’s our favourite part of the Show talking to keen gardeners and sharing our passion for plants. Fingers crossed!

 If you happen to have tickets for Chelsea this year do come and see us  and say hello, we’d be very pleased to see you:

 To find out more about the work of the NSPCC check out www.nspcc.org.uk . For regular photo updates on the garden go to our website and click on the twitter and facebook icons.

  ‘What will we leave? The NSPCC Garden of Magical Childhood  

 Artisan Garden Plot SEW5

Two weeks to go until we start building ‘What will we leave? The NSPCC Garden of Magical Childhood’ , our nostalgic legacy garden asking people to reflect on the preciousness of childhood and to consider supporting the NSPCC  through leaving gifts in wills.

 7.30am, Friday 10^th May is our build start and we’re raring to go. This week we are busy with last minute organisation and planning, checking plant deliveries, booking forklifts and final meetings with our contractor, Cormac (Conway Landscapes). Actually, when I say having a meeting with our contractor, I mean having a  Chelsea chat over a curry, a much more civilised and productive business meeting.

 The warmer weather has been fabulous for our plants, the dandelions seem to be doubling in size overnight and we are having to pinch out the flower buds to slow them down. We are doing the same with our lady’s smock (Cardamine pratensis). Some plants such as the meadow buttercups, oxe-eye daisies and field poppies we are still keeping in the green house to speed them into flower. Fingers crossed they should all make it.

We are particularly pleased with our lawn daisies, which are coming on in leaps and bounds. Delivered as small plug plants from a specialist wildflower nursery in March, they’re already flowering their socks off. At this rate there’ll be more than enough to make daisy chains.

Our award winning stinging nettle is making its fifth appearance at Chelsea, a plant we have used in all of our Chelsea gardens. That must be a record, I’ll have to verify  it with the RHS!

 We are using the nettle in tandem with a dock (Sheeps sorrel – Rumex acetosella) as we all remember rubbing a dock leaf on a nettle sting to take away the pain. In a way it’s an analogy of life with organisations like the NSPCC, representing  dock leaves,  helping to take away the sting  from child cruelty and exploitation.

Just one more thing. Here’s a sneak preview of our teddy bear for the garden, as yet unnamed, a vintage 1930′s Chad valley bear, adorable!

After all the planning we’re almost there.

For more information on the garden and on leaving gifts in wills, go to www.nspcc.org.uk/chelsea

‘What will we leave? The NSPCC Garden of Magical Childhood    RHS Chelsea 2013

It’s been a busy week as we continue to work on the garden ready for Chelsea, and now that spring has suddenly appeared, our plants are exploding into growth, more of that later. 

At the moment we are deciding on how the pebbles will look in our water feature; ‘The Wishing Pond’. ‘The Wishing Pond’ is an important part of the garden and will act as a focal point below the tree house. It is quite shallow and will be lined with painted pebbles of various sizes that will be visible through the water. Some of the pebbles will have messages or wishes painted on them from NSPCC supporters, all answering the question, ‘what will we leave?’

 This idea of legacy is central to the theme of the garden which will hopefully stimulate people to reflect on how precious childhoods are and how important it is to help the NSPCC to protect both children and childhoods in the future. Leaving gifts in wills is a great way of doing it.

On a personal level we want to leave innocence, safety, security, ambition, and a feeling of significance but we are really looking forward to finding out what NSPCC supporters want to leave when we hear back from them in the next couple of weeks. That’s the great thing about this garden, getting real people involved!

 Now, back to the plants.  The weather has finally changed and we can breathe a sigh of relief now that things are actually starting to grow. We must admit that we were starting to feel a little bit worried with the late spring but now that temperatures are on the rise, all those worries are out the window. This time of year plants grow like stink, you just need to look at the hedgerows to see as the hawthorn and cow parsley start to romp away. 

To find out more about leaving gifts in wills go to www.whatwillweleave.org.uk and to find out about the work of the NSPCC go to www.nspcc.org.uk

NSPCC What Will We Leave? Garden of Magical Childhood  ARTISAN GARDEN (SEW5)

HERE we are in the middle of February and last Sunday marked 100 days until the start of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show 2013. The countdown has started.

Although we have created several gardens at Chelsea now, we still admit to feeling a slight sense of anxiety, especially when you look out the window to see grey skies, leafless trees and a complete lack of colour in the garden.  You just have to convince yourself that nature will win through and come April trees and plants will burst into life again. 

Last week we made a visit to London to the Chelsea showground to take a look at the spot where we will be building our garden. This is always advisable so that there’re any unwelcome surprises when you get there on the first day of the build. The Artisan Garden exhibits, of which we are one, are located in Ranelagh Gardens and our plot is right next door to where we built a garden last year so fortunately we know it really well. The plot is reasonably flat and is surrounded by trees which means that our garden can borrow from the landscape around it and look even more magical. Looking at the area now, empty and quiet, you can’t believe that in just 100 days there could be more than150,000 people visiting the garden.

 We’ve also been busy tree hunting at our favourite tree nursery in Bedfordshire. The garden will feature a large tree in the centre, around which we are going to build our tree house, so selecting the right specimen is really important. After spending hours at the nursery in sub zero temperatures and looking at what seemed like hundreds of trees we think that we have found the one that we are going to use. Originally, we were thinking of using a type of cherry tree but if we have a cold spring and if the tree flowers too much there might not be enough energy for the leaves to ‘come out’ enough in time for Chelsea so instead we are thinking of changing it to a horse chestnut, another childhood favourite and ideal for a tree house! That’s the tricky thing about designing a garden for Chelsea; you are just designing a ‘stage set’ for 5 days in May.

Our wildflowers have been ordered and we are going to take delivery early so we can grow them on ourselves to ensure they are at their peak for Chelsea.

We are going to use a few toys as part of our child’s picnic scene in the garden and locating them has been particularly fun. It’s been a real antidote to the mountain of forms and admin that a project like this generates, which isn’t so much fun! We have fallen in love with ‘Angus’ the teddy bear, who will take pride of place in this garden of magical memories!

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For further information on the work of the NSPCC and on leaving gifts in wills go to www.whatwillweleave.org.uk

NSPCC What Will We Leave? Garden of Magical Childhood  ARTISAN GARDEN (SEW5)

WELL here we are at the start of a brand new year and we’ll delighted to be creating a garden for the NSPCC at the most prestigious flower show in the world, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. We are particularly excited to be a part of it this year as 2013 marks the centenary of the Chelsea Flower Show.

The garden is inspired by the magic of childhood and of happy nostalgic memories of growing up. It depicts a traditional child’s tea party taking place under a tree house surrounded by vibrant natural planting. There are vintage toys, conkers on strings, crystal dragon flies and fairy tale toadstools which all add to the magical and nostalgic feel of the garden.

There is a small pool in the centre of the garden; ‘The Wishing Pond’ which is shallow, safe and lined with pebbles. The pebbles have messages written on them from NSPCC young people and their supporters.

Although, not specifically a child’s garden, it is more a garden of childhood, a nostalgic place of happy memories and adventures. We want the garden to encourage people to reflect on childhood, its preciousness, children’s vulnerability and how we should provide a safe and happy environment for children today and tomorrow. And part of this is to urge people to think about how they can help the NSPCC achieve this through leaving gifts in wills. Hence the message ‘What will we leave?’

Preparation is well under way. Plant numbers have being finalised and ordered and nursery visits are starting to be made. A lot of the plants that we are going to use are wild flowers and we like to receive them early, as plug plants and grow them on ourselves so that we can monitor their growth to ensure they are at their best for the Show. We are planning to use colourful plants like fox gloves, oxe-eye daisies, honesty, buttercups and campions to engage and stimulate.

The main feature plant is the tree that will grow through the tree house. We had hoped to use a cherry tree but if we have a cold spring the leaves may not be fully out in time for the Show so we may have to change it . We are currently in talks with a specialist tree nursery in Bedfordshire to find the perfect specimen, but we haven’t found it yet. We’ll keep looking.

To mark the Chelsea Centenary, and for this year only, the RHS have relaxed their regulations to allow garden gnomes to be used for the first time at Chelsea. Normally, their use is strictly prohibited.  We are going to take advantage of this to include a vintage gnome to add a bit of magic and humour. Luckily we’ve already found him and called him Robert!

There’s a lot more preparation to do and a lot more hard work ahead but it should be a lot of fun and we’re really looking forward to it.

Will keep you posted with regular updates.

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For further information on the work of the NSPCC and on leaving gifts in wills go to www.whatwillweleave.org.uk

 NSPCC What will we leave? Garden of Magical Childhood 

 Artisan Garden (SEW5)

Although we have created several gardens at Chelsea now, we still admit to a slight feeling of anxiety at the moment, especially when you look out the window to see grey skies, leafless trees and a complete lack of colour in the garden.  You just have to convince yourself that nature will win through and come April trees and plants will burst into life again.

 We are soon going to be doing a regular blog for the NSPCC so you can follow the garden’s progress. We will keep you posted as this develops.

Here’s a sketch of the garden to give you a rough idea of what it is going to look like.

Artisan Garden – SEW7

Artist Impression – Jonathan Smith

The inspiration

 The Plankbridge Shepherd’s Hut garden is a nostalgic, relaxing, Dorset wild flower garden, featuring the first shepherd’s hut to be exhibited in a show garden at RHS Chelsea.  Inspired by the Dorset countryside and Dorset wild flower meadows in and around’ Hardy Country’, the garden is a real wildlife haven.

  The shepherd’s hut has been adapted as a writer’s retreat in honour of Thomas Hardy, Dorset’s most famous writer. Scenes from Far From the Madding Crowd, including those with shepherd Gabriel Oak, were set in fields near Plankbridge. On Press Day, the hut will be used by best-selling author Tracy Chevalier, who has many close connections with Dorset. Tracy will be working on the manuscript of her new novel, which is set in Dorset and America.

 The shepherd’s hut

 The shepherd’s hut was hand built to fit the garden area by Richard Lee of Plankbridge Hutmakers. He used Plankbridge’s authentic Victorian designs with some unique design additions, including the curved doorframe.  The colour of the hut is a pre-raphealite colour called ‘Shepherd’s Shirt’, which is taken from a painting called ‘The Hireling Shepherd’ by William Holman Hunt. The hut was weathered to suit the garden scheme by scenic artist Jonathan Holbrook, who has worked on major film and TV projects including Pirates of the Caribbean, The Golden Compass and Lark Rise to Candleford. 

'The Hireling Shepherd' (1851)

 The large Artisan garden (7m x 5m) is designed by triple RHS Gold Medal winners Adam Woolcott and Jonathan Smith www.woolcottandsmith.com They specialise in naturalistic planting and beautiful, nostalgic gardens. They share the same love for craft, beauty and attention to detail as the Plankbridge team. Adam and Jonathan will include their ‘secret weapon’ lucky stinging nettle in the design, which has featured in their previous three Chelsea award-winning gardens.

 Plants to look out for include the rare Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), which is native to Dorset and grows abundantly at Plankbridge, plus rare heritage vegetable varieties, including runner beans and ‘Convent Garden’ beetroot kindly donated by Garden Organic.

 Photocall

 On Press Day, best-selling author, Tracy Chevalier will be writer-in-residence in the shepherd’s hut. Tracy has a home in West Dorset and has published six novels, including Girl with a Pearl Earring, which was famously adapted for film starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. Two of Tracy’s earlier books feature Dorset characters and settings and her new novel (to be published in spring 2013) tells the story of a Victorian Quaker who emigrates from Dorset to America in 1849. Tracy will be working on the manuscript of her new novel in the hut and will be available for interview and filming as requested.

 Photography

 Award winning garden photographer Rachel Warne www.rachelwarne.co.uk will be taking images of the garden on Press Day. Please contact the PR team below if you require images.

Notes to editors:

 The Plankbridge Shepherd’s Hut Garden SEW7

Sponsor:  Plankbridge Hutmakers, Dorset www.plankbridge.com

Designers: Woolcott & Smith www.woolcottandsmith.com

Construction: Conway Landscapes www.conwaylandscapes.com

 For more information, please contact: Alicen Dines or Sara Hudston at Watershed PR, telephone 01308 420 785, email alicen@watershedpr.co.uk or sara@watershedpr.co.uk

ENDS

We are delighted to announce that our Artisan Garden design has been accepted into the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show 2012. Next year’s design for Plankbridge Ltd, promises to be our best one yet. The design will feature a tranquil wildflower garden, inspired by the beautiful Dorset countryside immortalised by Thomas Hardy in his novel ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’. Central to the design is an authentic Dorset-style shepherd’s hut which sits on the banks of a stream in a water meadow.

 The exhibitor and sponsor of the garden, Plankbridge Limited, are manufacturers of traditional, authentic shepherd’s huts. Based just outside Dorchester in Dorset, the Plankbridge team are dedicated and experienced craftsmen that create something really unique and special. To find out more go to www.plankbridge.com.

 For more information on the Chelsea Flower Show go to www.rhs.org.uk

 We’ll keep you posted with more details soon.

We took another trip up to Frinton-on-Sea today (24^th June 2011) to take part in a BBC film about the background to our exhibit at the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show. Our exhibit is part of the National Flower Bed Competition and seeks to highlight the Victorian seaside heritage of Frinton with a beach scene created with different types of bedding plants.

 It will be simple and striking and something a little bit different.

It was also great to catch up with the team at Frinton in Bloom and to see how well the bathing machine centre piece was progressing. The bathing machine has now been renamed ‘Betty the Booth’ and is looking fantastic, all that’s needed now is the green roof.

Adam and Jon were delighted when they were asked by Frinton in Bloom to design an exhibit for them as part of the National Flower Bed Competition at the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show in July. Their relationship with Frinton-on-Sea dates back to when they were lent precious Frinton beach sand (with the permission of the relevant authorities) for  use in their 2008 Gold Medal winning garden at the Chelsea Flower Show. Adam said ‘ We were more than happy to return the favour and Jon and I are looking forward to working with the team at Frinton in Bloom to create something quite memorable’.

 Entitled ‘Taking a Dip’, this years exhibit seeks to highlight the Victorian and Edwardian Seaside heritage of the unique coastal town of Frinton-on-Sea in Essex. The main feature is a magnificent period-style bathing machine that sits majestically on the beach. Around it the sea gently laps at the shore. On the sand are two sections of wooden groynes that add to the sea-side feel.

Concept Sketch - 'Taking a Dip'

 The colours and plants chosen are purposely kept simple so that the exhibit is uncomplicated but striking.

 The inspiration is health and relaxation, rest, taking the sea air and ‘taking a dip’. The perfect remedy for a ‘stressed out’ world.  The design takes a nostalgic look at health and exercise from a bygone age  showing the vivid contrast towards attitudes health then and now .

 This fits in well with the ethos of our principal sponsor ‘The Lifehouse Spa’, who endeavour to promote health, fitness and a feeling of positive well-being.

 Jon said, ‘although there’s lots to do and lots to organise we are very excited by the project and confident that it will all go smoothly. David and his team at Frinton in Bloom have it all under control’.

The RHS Tatton Park Flower Show is on from 20-24 July 2011 so come down and  visit.

 To find out more about Frinton in Bloom visit the website www.frintoninbloom.org

 To find out more about The Lifehouse or to pamper yourself with a spa break visit www.lifehouse.co.uk