A Slice of Yorkshire’s coast comes to Chelsea

Welcome to Yorkshire returns to the 2017 RHS Chelsea Flower Show with one of this year’s biggest show gardens. Visitors to the prestigious show will get a taste of Yorkshire’s stunning coastline to be recreated by designer Tracy Foster, inspired by the spectacular scenery around the county’s coastline.

Every inch of the garden’s build will be authentically Yorkshire with stone used to construct a ruined abbey sourced from the same quarry used to build Whitby Abbey back in the 13th century and cliffs made from material with the same geological composition as Flamborough Head itself.

Tracy Foster is a multi-award winning Yorkshire designer from Sheffield who has taken her inspiration from the freshness and wildness of Flamborough and the drama of Yorkshire’s historic castles and abbeys. Her design will feature a spectacular water feature to highlight Yorkshire’s strong links to the fishing industry and recognise the rich array of seafood the county supplies to the world.

Tracy will also celebrate the county’s powerful relationship with agriculture that will be echoed through a 3D Trompe l’oile painting. This art technique uses realistic imagery to create an optical illusion and will deceive the viewer iinto thinking the rural scene is real.

Sir Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire comments that this year will be their eighth Chelsea garden to showcase the rugged beauty of Yorkshire: “The inclusion of a beach, cliffs and large water feature make it our most ambitious garden yet. With a designer as accomplished and decorated as Tracy Foster, we know this will be another show-stopping garden and will no doubt tempt the thousands of Chelsea visitors to come and experience Yorkshire for themselves,” he said.

Designer, Tracy Foster is really looking forward to sharing the unique beauty of the Yorkshire coast with everyone at the show: “I’m fascinated by how the geology and geography of an area influences the species that grow there, wildlife that lives there, what can be farmed here and how the whole character of the landscape has developed throughout history“, she said. “Researching this garden has been a pure pleasure, as there has been so much to find out and enjoy. The main problem has been deciding what to leave out!”

Welcome to Yorkshire has achieved one Gold Medal, five Silver Medals and One Silver Gilt Medal at previous RHS Chelsea shows as well as six People’s Choice Awards.

Photo credit: Garden design banner above ©Tracy Foster.