Meet Emily Crowley-Wroe, designer of ‘Best Show Garden’ at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival with The Hide Garden!
Created by designer and founder of April House Garden Design, Emily Crowley-Wroe, The Hide Garden featured in the Show Gardens area at Malvern Spring Festival. Its enchanting design won Silver Gilt at RHS Malvern Spring Festival, held earlier this year in May, plus was awarded the accolade of Best Show Garden!
The garden was inspired by Greystones Nature Reserve in Bourton-on-the-Water, but more widely our newly discovered appreciation of our local landscapes – a result of being forced to spend more time at home following the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
Malvern Garden Buildings’ Flat Roof Studio featured within the design of The Hide Garden, with planting used on the walls and roof of the Studio to help blend the building, garden and landscape beyond.
Emily, a professionally trained garden designer, was ecstatic to finally be able to bring her design to life after two cancelled RHS shows due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She told Malvern Garden Buildings: “This garden has been waiting in the wings for two years!”
We caught up with Emily at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival and here’s what she had to say about The Hide Garden.
What inspired your design?
“The garden is inspired by a spot that I like to visit down by the river, where I can just sit and relax. I can let the children just run across the stepping stones, which is why I put those in the garden – I wanted to add a bit of a playful element to the garden.
“It wasn’t so much about making a carbon copy of that place by the river, but about how you feel when you are near the river. It was all about bringing elements of that landscape into the design.
“The deck that runs from inside the building to outside gives you the expansive feeling that you get when you are in a riverscape. Because I have designed the garden on an angle it allowed me to have a nice long stretch of water, which replicates the design inspiration.”
Tell us about the Malvern Garden Building used in your design
“The ability to run the floor from the outside to the inside is perfect for the design, to create that link between two. I love the contemporary style of the building and the shape. Because I have gone for very naturalistic planting in the garden, with a contemporary edge, the building works perfectly.”
“I like the fact that you can have a complete glass frontage, and that you can have lighting integrated in the overhang. The contemporary style of the building appeals to me.”
“Designing a garden which includes a Malvern Garden Building has created a unity between the inside and outside.”
Emily wanted to give special thanks to Jake Bowdige at Sinton Tree and Landscapes who helped to build The Hide Garden.
How easy was it to style the space?
“It was good because I was able to use the willow wallpaper along the back wall which I wanted to use to tie in with the outside. I had the flexibility to do that in the Malvern Garden Building using nice natural green colours too!”
Can you share your top gardening tip with us?
“If I was to give one tip for gardening it would be to experiment – don’t be afraid to make mistakes and have fun!”
Showing off the transformative power a garden can have and helping people to find happiness through their gardens is what Emily loves most about her job. Stay up to date with her future work and projects by following her on Instagram and visit her website, April House Garden Design.
Find out more about the RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2022 and upcoming RHS events on the Royal Horticultural Society website.
