35 tonnes of walling stone and 15 tonnes of glacial boulders are being collected in the Dales for the Welcome to Yorkshire show garden at RHS Chelsea.
It is all on loan from the Bolton Estate to make sure this year’s garden at the prestigious flower show in London next month is authentically Yorkshire.
The 2018 design showcases Yorkshire’s iconic countryside and green spaces and also celebrates the county’s plentiful natural materials, traditional crafts and skilled artisan food production; the aim is to encourage those who see the garden, to visit the country and experience its beauty first-hand.
Designer Mark Gregory who is celebrating his 30th year at Chelsea has been inspired by the stunning Yorkshire Dales, world famous for its Wensleydale cheese, wildflower and buttercup meadows and iconic drystone walls.
The stone, collected from near Castle Bolton in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, will be used to create a genuine drystone wall and to construct a stone bothy in the garden. The glacial boulders will be used to help create a tumbling beck and fast flowing stream. All items are on loan and will be returned to the Bolton Estate after the show.
This year’s garden will also showcase the wonderful and unique local produce found in the Dales, especially Yorkshire Wensleydale. Genuine traditional cheese making equipment is being loaned to Welcome to Yorkshire by the Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes. This will be used when cheese production takes place in the bothy at certain points during the show, adding even more genuine Yorkshire sights and smells to the garden.
Sir Gary Verity Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said: “It’s brilliant to see this stunning design being turned into reality. Borrowing some genuine pieces of Yorkshire is a fantastic way to make our garden shine as brightly as this great county does when viewed first hand.
“We’re incredibly grateful to the Bolton Estate, Wensleydale Creamery and Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority for all their help and support in making this happen. We promise to take great care of these precious pieces of Yorkshire and return them straight after the show”
Garden designer Mark Gregory said: “To create a garden that truly evokes the beauty of Yorkshire you have to start with the right ingredients. We wouldn’t be doing it justice if we didn’t borrow part of the soul of the county and it’s amazing that we are being given access to this kind of quality material. We’re trying to make it as authentic as possible, but we are also being incredibly respectful to the environment.”
David Hartley, Managing Director at The Wensleydale Creamery, said: “We are very excited for the start of this wonderful project, which will create a little piece of the Yorkshire Dales in Chelsea, allowing us tell our historic story and showcase our much-loved Yorkshire Wensleydale in a truly authentic setting.”
Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Chief Executive, David Butterworth, said:
“We are pleased to support this wonderful garden inspired by the stunning landscape of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. We hope it will, in turn, inspire visitors to the Chelsea Flower Show to come and enjoy the sights, smells and tastes of the Park for themselves.
“The whole purpose behind the involvement of the National Park Authority in an event of this kind is to ensure that the Park itself, its landscape, communities and businesses remain in the public eye and benefit accordingly.”
