Exhibitors
SHOW GARDENS | WATER GARDENS | SMALL GARDENS | CONCEPTUAL GARDENS
INSPIRING SPACES | WINDOWBOXES & HANGING BASKETS
PLANTS | GROWING & SHOWING MARQUEE | MARKET PLACE
Small gardens
Alton Infant School
Learning to Look After Our World
Designers: 10 Year-2 pupils (design translated by Sarah Harvey)
Sponsors: Stilh, plus various independent sponsors
Contractors: Parents and friends of the school
Click on the images to view a hi-res version
The garden represents a microcosm of the school grounds and is designed for education and fun. As the Chinese proverb says, 'I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand'. This garden teaches conservation, recycling, organic gardening, plant and animal life cycles and caring for our world. Recycled and natural materials are used wherever possible.
The school’s grounds are used for education and relaxation so they need to be aesthetically pleasing as well as useful and fun. The school is passionate about the positive impact that environmental education has on our children and is keen to share this with others. All the children have been involved in some way in both the development of the school grounds and this garden. Parents and the wider town community have contributed their time, skills and money to both ventures as community involvement is an essential part of the development of the school grounds.
The garden contains all the elements that can be found in the school grounds: a vegetable and fruit garden, pond, wild and sensory garden - including stepping stones designed and built by the children from recycled materials - chickens and a wild flower patch. The greenhouse and fencing surrounding the garden have been built by local craftsman. The path around the greenhouse is built entirely from materials recycled from recent building works. A river of thyme runs through the garden. Companion planting in the vegetable patch helps control pests naturally. All elements of the garden will be taken back to Alton Infant School.
The garden design was a project for a small group of Year-2 children (aged six to seven years). It was intended to be cross curricular and to encourage them to solve problems in the real world. They brainstormed the ideas, did a scale drawing and drew out a full-size version on the school playground. They wrote sponsorship letters and have presented their ideas to different organisations. They are now involved in growing vegetables and sweet peas for the garden.