SHINGLESEA
A Railway Carriage repurposed
In 2007 I had my application to design and build a garden at the prestigious CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW accepted. My winning design was called SHINGLESEA and was inspired by a railway carriage/holiday home at Winchelsea Beach in Sussex.
I was struck by the juxtaposition of the soft green paintwork, contrasting with the drift of poppies that appear in late spring. (I have this romantic notion that a soldier, returning from the front at the end of WW1, made it his home. In his pocket was a handful of poppy seeds he'd collected from Flanders Fields.)
My design incorporated a railway carriage, an old boat and drought-tolerant plants in a bed of shingle.
My good friend, Robert Patch, built a beautiful facade of a Victorian railway carriage.
We had ten days to build the garden. It was well received and I got a Silver-Gilt medal, not bad for a naive first-timer.
I gave away 15,00 brochure, talked to hundreds of visitors and... met the Queen!
No comments:
Post a Comment