Malvern Garden Buildings at Malvern Spring Festival
We are extremely proud that three of the fantastic show gardens at Malvern Spring Festival 2022 included Malvern Garden Buildings in their designs: the Vitamin G Garden, the Longcroft Press and the Hide Garden. One of the gardens even won best in show!
Held at the Three Counties Showground since it began in 1986, the Spring Festival is the ultimate day of flowers, food, crafts and family fun – plus, of course, garden ideas and inspiration!
The Gardens
The Vitamin G Garden
Designers: Jo Whiley and Alan Williams
Malvern Garden Building: Studio Pavilion
BBC Radio 2 presenter Jo Whiley joined the National Garden Scheme as their new ambassador and teamed up with Alan Williams from Landform Consultants to design the first ever RHS Feature Garden at Malvern Spring Festival – The Vitamin G Garden.
Landscapia brought Jo and Alan’s design to life, building the garden which aspired to showcase the benefits of gardening on our mental, physical and social wellbeing, following evidence-based research published in April 2021 by Professor Alistair Griffiths and Dr Lauriane Chalman-Pui.
The garden was based around a series of interconnecting capsules that form a daily dose of ‘vitamin G’, including an area for contemplation, relaxation and restoration, all surrounded by naturalistic planting with wonderful scent. The Studio itself was filled with art and plants, and opened out on to a meditation or yoga platform nestled beside a plunge pool.
Follow Jo and Alan on Instagram
Read more about the Vitamin G garden
The Longcroft Press
Designer: Laura Ashton-Philips
Malvern Garden Building: Reverse Apex Shed
Laura is currently studying with the RHS alongside establishing her own horticulture business as ‘The Botanic Blonde’. Her garden, the Longcroft Press, was inspired by village apple pressing days held at her family’s orchard, and aimed to encapsulate the neighbourly spirit and charm of the Forest of Dean as well as the very best produce that the area has to offer.
Laura’s garden design incorporated mature fruit trees in front of a pressing shed – our Reverse Apex Shed – which housed an antique apple press and scratter. A carpet of native wildflowers surrounded the trees, and Laura explained how new blooms would emerge every day and so the garden would change on a daily basis.
Laura said: “It has been a real pleasure working with Malvern Garden Buildings. I designed an aged, natural orchard garden and the building is supposed to look aged and as if it had always been there. Obviously hard to do with a brand-new building, but the team at Malvern Garden Buildings listened to all my ideas and together we came up with a great apple pressing shed that fits beautifully in my wildflower orchard garden.” The roof of the Malvern Garden Building was covered in a mix of sedum cultivars planted with native ground-covering plants, to blend in with the surrounding landscape of the Malvern Hills.
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Read more about the Longcroft Press
The Hide Garden
Designer: Emily Crowley-Wroe
Malvern Garden Building: Flat Roof Studio
The Hide 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. Designed by Emily Crowley-Wroe, the garden was built by Design It Landscapes and featured our Flat Roof Studio.
Bringing her vision to life was a much-awaited, highly anticipated project for Emily, who said: “This garden has been waiting in the wings for two years, so a chance to finally see it brought to life will be wonderful!”
The Studio in Emily’s garden was situated on a rustic grey deck, intended to connect the interior and exterior spaces and create a more expansive feeling in a small space. Planting was used on the walls and roof of the Studio, helping to blend the building, garden and landscape beyond. Privacy was created with beautiful handwoven willow panels around the perimeter, making it a personal sanctuary for work and rest.
Emily said “Designing a garden alongside Malvern Garden Buildings has created a unity between the inside and outside spaces that is harder to create when considered in isolation. The team’s professional and flexible approach to working with my design has been outstanding.”
