The Daily Telegraph Garden
Site MA18
Designer Christopher Bradley
www.telegraph.co.uk
This garden, designed by Christopher Bradley-Hole is a contemporary and contemplative
composition, inspired by the making of the English landscape, by the Japanese approach to garden making, and by modern abstract art. The garden is a representation of England as a wooded landscape from which openings were cleared to allow settlement, civilisation and cultivation. It draws attention to the threats that are posed to native trees and shrubs, using them
in a graphic way to create an under storey which expresses the way a field pattern has been superimposed on the countryside. Blocks of box, yew and beech form the field landscape. The humble hazel, a symbol of the working forest, is shown in a new ‘designed’ form. Oak is shown as a structure–acolonnade of columns crafted from English green oak.
The garden has an overall palette of subtle tones emblematic of the atmospheric
composition o
f the landscape on a misty day, and the planting will attract wildlife to the
garden.
The garden
is partly inspired by ‘In Praise of Shadows’, the book of the Japanese write
r
,
Juichiro Tanizaki, and his observation of the calm and depth of meaning which are found in
shaded areas, such as you would find in the English countryside.
It reflects the des
igner’s
personal passion for the English landscape and also his visit to Japan in 2011,
a country
which has long been an inspiration for his design ideas. Christopher is fascinated by the
connections in the design approach of the two island nations.
The
designer, Christopher Bradley
-
Hole, is returning to Chelsea after a break of eight years,
having previously designed five Gold medal
-
winning gardens, two of which were awarded
Best Show Garden. This will be his third garden designed for the Daily Telegraph
. His first
garden for them, ‘The Latin Garden’ in 1997, won the newspaper’s first Best Show Garden
award.
The Daily Telegraph first exhibited at Chelsea in 1989, winning a Silver medal for a garden
designed by Guy Farthing. Since then it has been awarde
d 15 Gold medals, and been
awarded the title of Best Show Garden
seven times.