Malvern Memories: Magnificent Malvern

The first of our views of one of last year's Chris Beardshaw Mentorship show gardens, courtesy of Claire Potter...

I have come to believe that building a showgarden is very much like riding an extremely long rollercoaster. There are ups, there are downs, there are twists and turns, and somewhere along the line you will scream, cry and probably be sick.

And with this in mind, we set off a couple of weeks ago to build the latest in our offerings - 'dancing with the trees' at the Malvern Spring Show.

I have to admit, the staff at the Three Counties Showground are wonderful, so the rollercoaster runs much smoother than at other venues, but the threat of precipitation and a tight build schedule always tingles the nerves a little...

My first few days were spent working alone, excavating what seemed to be a roman path left over from previous gardens, and sleeping in a tent which I had somehow pitched on a scale replica of the Malvern hills themselves. Nice.

But then, on day four of the build, our proper accommodation arrived... our green bean trailer...

The prototype version of what we are now putting into production rolled up from Brighton on the back of Alberta, our Morris Minor, all shiny and new and itching to be used. The Green Bean is a little teardrop trailer that we have designed and built which we believe is possibly the most eco friendly mini caravan in the UK and was shown very briefly on Gardeners' World... but more of him in another post...

With an increased workforce, we rattled through the rest of the build, hampered only by the occasional rain, gale force winds and frequent biscuit breaks with our friends and neighbours (which made up most of our diet for two weeks...)

Judging day. Last minute touches to the garden. Leave. Cannot bear to watch judges on the garden so wander off. Hear reports from spies that the judges did indeed 'dance with the trees' as we had intended...

The first day dawns of the show, and we dutifully man our gardens from 8.00, awaiting the RHS medals or the dreaded 'no award letter'... So, what did we get? Another silver, which was great, but again, room for improvement.

So, up and down and up and down, the show rollercoaster continued...next, the Chris Beardshaw Scholarship... after hearing a report from Chris about how each of the potential scholars were received by the judges, 5 were invited to speak. I was lucky enough to take the stage, and spoke about my sustainable commitments as a designer. Others spoke about their own desires and aspirations as designers, then the board retired to deliberate...

An hour later, we were all reassembled, and even though I was disappointed not to be chosen, I was over the moon when my friend and show garden neighbour Paul Hervey-Brookes was awarded the scholarship. He is a wonderful and modest designer with a wealth of knowledge, and I have no doubts that he will do fabulously in his next year and beyond. Follow him via his very new blog here. Welcome to the blogging fray Paul...

The sun shone on us all for the vast majority of the show, which included a fantastical fashion show, cookery demonstrations and general frivolity, courtesy of the ever eloquent and engaging James Alexander-Sinclair, who I adore to bits.

So - hello to all of those who visited us, hello to those who didn't make it, and hello to all those wonderful people who made the garden happen in the first place. And congratulations to all of the scholars, who did themselves proud and were each awarded a medal. Another special well done goes to Deb, who dressed Lola to perfection, and was awarded a Silver medal and Best Border status. Well done and well deserved.

I will be doing a series of posts in the next week or so, highlighting specific bits and bobs in the garden and the show, so in the words of the eco Arnie himself, 'I'll be back'...