* I was invited to the Gardeners’ World Live show and provided with a pair of tickets to the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.
I was reminded of this garden as I put together my top 10 posts of last year, as my roundup of the show featured on that list, and instantly I was transported back there and once again being intrigued by the seed swap cabinet, and more.
In fact I was so intrigued by this compilation of ideas that I abandoned my usual structured approach of reading and photographing the garden’s info first. As I discovered when I was editing the photos for this garden, that was the last thing I did - there was just so much to see!
The garden was designed by Kate Patrick, The Messy Allotmenteer and was awarded a Silver Merit Award, so it seems I wasn’t the only one fascinated with this space.
On the info board, when I read it, I learnt that the garden is a ‘sustainable space celebrating connections between skilled artisans, local businesses which features nectar-rich blooms, heirloom vegetables and UK-grown, wildlife-friendly plants.’
If you look closely you can see the stained glass in the greenhouse, which aims to blend colour therapy and plant growth while the handcrafted willow and recycled emphasises sustainability.
There were opportunities to learn about bees from the beekeeper along with a demonstration hive, watch the willow weaver creating garden art and the coppersmith making metal flower teams. That’s not all though the coppicing team were demonstrating cleft oak work and the moss balls held by macrame also had a demonstration area next to the garden.
There was so much effort and output in this garden, and if none of the crafts were your thing then you could join the discussion on how to encourage biodiversity and introduce wildlife habitats into small spaces. Or you could just enjoy the beauty of the whole space and take time to breathe.
I don’t know about you but a taking a look back at this garden was exactly what I needed on a gloomy January day!
* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was quite a show! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to this year’s show throughout the year - I hope you enjoy them as much as I did the show.