Exhibitors
Show gardens
WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme)
The Trailfinders Recycled Garden
Designer: Chris Beardshaw
Sponsor: WRAP
Click here to view a panorama of this garden.
To view a hi-res version of the image click on the image
This sculptural garden was inspired by WRAP’s recycling campaign. The partially excavated site, which reveals a contemporary approach to gardening, highlights the potential of materials that are buried in landfill sites.
Boundary walls are built on two sides of this garden, which rises steadily upwards towards the back where there is planting in a sweeping arc. In the centre there is a sunken canal, which is bordered by recycled glass paving leading to a 5m (17ft) sculpted tree. Planting areas, consisting of British species, frame the view of the canal.
Woodlands, grasslands and hedgerows were the inspiration behind the colours, textures and forms of planting and there is no set colour combination. The smaller heads of the woodland species allow a greater diversity of colour schemes, which creates a rich and flowing tapestry.
The space has been designed for a gardener to sit and contemplate somewhere that allows the mind to wander, with the water feature providing reflection of planting and clouds floating overhead. The architectural geometry is quite formal, while planting, which includes Taraxcum officinale (dandelion), Thymus praecox (wild thyme) and Ranunculus acris (meadow buttercup), is inspired by the flowing informality of nature.
Chris Beardshaw was recently awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Cheltenham and Gloucester University - making him the University’s youngest ever fellow. Author, TV presenter and lecturer, Chris also has his own private design and consultancy practice where he undertakes projects from small private gardens right up to public reclamation schemes. Chris has a healthy crop of medals, including Gold, for his Royal Horticultural Society show gardens.