Peak’s RHS Chatsworth Show Garden design revealed
Fabulous landscapes and the formal gardens of the area’s many historic houses have inspired official tourist board Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire’s imaginative show garden at the first-ever RHS Chatsworth Flower Show.
RHS Chelsea Flower Show award winning designer Lee Bestall is the creative brain behind the Experience Peak District & Derbyshire Garden, one of a range of innovative floral features that will be visited by tens of thousands of visitors between 7 and 11 June 2017.
Lee, whose business Bestall & Co is based at Renishaw Hall & Gardens in north Derbyshire, has focused on the health-promoting and mood-boosting benefits of fresh air and fantastic views in his simple, yet striking design.
Rough grass, native trees and hand-painted cows representing the area’s landscapes lead through to the clipped topiary and herbaceous planting favoured by the Peak District and Derbyshire’s great country houses.
Jo Dilley, Director of Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire, said:-
“We’re delighted with Lee’s design, which reflects the huge variety of the area’s natural and man-made landscapes and gardens in a relatively small space.
“Interest from visitors in the first-ever RHS Chatsworth Flower Show is high, and it will be a great opportunity to showcase the Peak District and Derbyshire to tens of thousands of people from both Britain and overseas.
“Some of our accommodation providers are already reporting anecdotally that they are fully booked during the show, which is great news for local businesses and the area’s economy, and I’m sure availability will be at a premium as June draws nearer.
“We’re really looking forward to being part of this prestigious event, which will help to put our world-class destination even more firmly on the map.”
Lee Bestall, who is a member of the Society of Garden Designers, added:-
“It’s a great pleasure working with Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire to create a show garden illustrating the wide range of informal and formal open spaces where people can relax and feel reinvigorated in this beautiful area.”
The show garden – sponsored by Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire; Hope Cement, A Breedon Group Company; The Camping and Caravanning Club and Wheeldon Trees Holiday Cottages, Earl Sterndale, near Buxton – will be built by J P H Landscapes, Sheffield.
Lee Bestall trained at RHS Wisley and was selected by Kevin McCloud as the first-ever Grand Designs ‘Garden Designer of the Year’. He designed award-winning gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2015 and 2016, and he and his team are currently preparing for their first-ever large show garden at Chelsea in 2017.
More than 42,000 tickets have already been sold for the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show 2017, and more than 80,000 people are expected to attend.
The overarching theme will be ‘Design Revolutionaries’, drawing inspiration from famous figures such as Sir Joseph Paxton and Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, both of whom had a major impact of the 1000-acre Chatsworth Estate.
