God’s own county comes to Chelsea
As someone with Yorkshire blood in my veins I am always keen to see any garden that has a connection to ‘God’s own County’. Welcome to Yorkshire will once again be bringing a garden to RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2016, this year designed by Matthew Wilson, former head of RHS Garden Harlow Carr.
‘God’s Own County – A Garden for Yorkshire’ will be sponsor Welcome to Yorkshire’s biggest garden at the Chelsea Flower Show to-date and is inspired by the huge East Window at York Minister, the largest single expanse of medieval stained glass in Britain, currently undergoing a major £20 million restoration.
This will be the window into the garden which will showcase Yorkshire’s stunning scenery, iconic heritage, industries and skilled tradespeople.
Materials will reflect the Yorkshire landscape and will feature stone pillars carved by York Minister’s masons as well as traditional stone and timber gargoyles and monoliths loaned from historic sites across Yorkshire.
Matthew is Principle Designer at Clifton Nurseries which has a long association with the Chelsea Flower Show. Matthew explained: “The garden’s design opens a window of opportunity to celebrate the county. With the materials and skills used to create the garden, we will be bringing over 600 years of living history to Chelsea. I’m incredibly excited to begin working on ‘God’s Own County – A Garden for Yorkshire’ and can’t wait to see everyone’s reaction to it.”
Sir Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire points out that their presence at the Chelsea Flower Show enables them to showcase Yorkshire to the world and explains: “Our 2016 entry will be the biggest and best yet. This will be our seventh year at Chelsea and we’re delighted to be taking a central plot, ensuring even more visitors see our fantastic garden. Here’s hoping we can bring another Gold Medal back to Yorkshire.”
The garden will also include panels of the same mouth blown glass being used in the restoration of York Minister’s East Window, assembled by the York Glaziers Trust. Planting will celebrate the diversity of plants in Yorkshire gardens with a series of beds directly inspired by the colours of the stained glass in the East Window.
At Chelsea, Welcome to Yorkshire has previously been awarded one Gold Medal, four Silver Medals and one Silver Gilt Medal. They have also won five People’s Choice Awards.
Credits: Garden plan ©Matthew Wilson
