Showcase Garden award winner announced at BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair

Tisserand English Garden Landscapes from Bishops Stortford are the proud winners of Best Showcase Garden at this year’s BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair, in association with English Heritage, which took place at Audley End House and Gardens, Saffron Walden this weekend.

Designed for Tisserand by Sarah Plested from Bramley Apple Garden Design, the award-winning garden, There’s No Place Like Home, was one of the entries in the Autumn Fair’s Association of Professional Landscapers’ Skills Competition, scooping a Gold award from the competition’s assessors.

The competing teams were challenged to build a competition standard show garden in just 16.5 hours. With a creative theme of ‘That’s Entertainment’, the design brief stipulated paved, decked and planted areas, a water feature and feature tree. Eagle-eyed expert assessors from the Association of Professional Landscapers observed the teams throughout the build, scrutinising their interpretation of the brief, technical skills, quality of workmanship, use of materials, attention to detail and finish.

The Tisserand garden featured a dramatic central frame, contrasting levels, and even a glitterball, creating a stylish, fun social space.

Phil Tremayne, General Manager of the Association of Professional Landscapers, led the Autumn Fair’s Skills Competition assessment panel. He said: “The Tisserand garden had a theatrical edge with its dramatic frame and height, interesting levels and bold planting.”

Celebrating their Best Showcase Award, Elohim Tisserand from Tisserand English Garden Landscapes said: “We’re really chuffed to have won Best Showcase Garden. We worked non-stop to get the garden finished in time and it was extremely challenging mentally and physically. It’s a great experience to bring a show garden to fruition and we recommend the competition to other companies wanting to put their team to the test.”

In a close-run finish, Basildon-based Landscapes By Design were the competition victors, scooping a Gold award for Fiesta Flora. Designed by Paul Newman from Design Scape and built by Rob Giles and Alexander Reid, the garden offered a sophisticated space for both relaxation and entertainment. 

Stuart Reid, owner of Landscapes By Design said: “It feels fantastic to have won the APL Skills Competition. Fiesta Flora has been a real team effort and a showcase for the team’s skills. There were some nerves at the start, but it’s been a great experience.”

Hertfordshire designer Val Christman was presented with a Gold award and won the Visitors’ Choice Showcase Garden for her stunning Showcase Garden, Just Milling Around which featured a working watermill.

Facing the extremely difficult task of reviewing all the Autumn Fair’s Showcase Gardens were a panel of highly experienced assessors – gardening editor, horticulturalist and journalist, Ian Hodgson, as Chair, and multi award-winning garden designers, Pip Probert, from BBC Two’s Your Garden Made Perfect and Outer Spaces Landscaping & Design in the Wirral, and Mike Baldwin, Derby College Group’s veteran horticulture and landscaping lecturer with more than 100 national show gardens and community project gardens under his belt.

Two special mentions go out to David Hurrion and Pip Probert who both created Showcase Gardens for the event, especially to inspire visitors about what could be achieved in a small space. David’s Raised Bed Revealed demonstrated differing heights and planting styles, and he signed copies of his new book alongside talks on the garden. Pip’s stunning design, Summer’s Last Hurrah!, featured an enviable dining area surrounded by the bright colours of late summer plants and flowers.

Rachel Poletti-Gadd, Portfolio Director – Gardening Division at Immediate Live, organisers of the BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair, said: “What a fantastic result for the Tisserand team. The work that goes into designing, planning and building a show garden is no small thing, but it’s all paid off to spectacular effect with a great response from the assessors – and visitors too. Our congratulations to all this year’s Showcase Garden creators and Association of Professional Landscapers’ Skills Competition entrants who provided wonderful inspiration and ideas for Autumn Fair visitors to try at home.”

Winner of the Visitors’ Choice Beautiful Border was Capel Manor College Horticulture student Terry Gilmour, AKA The Cockney Gardener. Terry’s Beautiful Border, Fancy a Cuppa?, featured edible plants for making healthy, homemade brews, including herbs, flowers, small trees and fruit bushes. Vintage tea cups, pots and tins enhanced the theme, with trellis shelving for jars of dried ingredients. A small seating area offered the perfect spot to unwind and savour a cuppa.

Winner of the Best Floral Display at this year’s Autumn Fair was Jurassic Plants, a specialist nursery growing exotic plants in Denbighshire, North Wales. W.S. Warmenhoven, the Dutch Allium and Amaryllis specialists, took second place and Daisy Roots, the Hertfordshire hardy perennials and grasses specialists, took third.

The BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair, in association with English Heritage, took place at Audley End House and Gardens from 30 August – 1 September. Highlights included inspiring Showcase Gardens, Beautiful Borders, plant displays by specialist nurseries, a drought-tolerant feature garden by Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens, and plenty of garden shopping. There was expert advice and seasonal garden conversation from BBC Gardeners’ World TV presenters Adam Frost, Joe Swift and Rachel de Thame with the Magazine editors at the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Stage, plus hands-on workshops and garden tours with the Autumn Fair’s Plant Experts. TV chef Marcus Bean hosted a line-up of expert produce growers at the new Get Growing Stage and there was delicious food and drink to sample, enjoy and take home at the Good Food Market.  

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