Due to the success of the ‘Teenage Garden’, Jeremy was invited to devise a competition that was open to UK secondary schools and sponsored by Daihatsu for the Chelsea Flower Show 2004. Burntwood School’s winning ‘Biodiversity’ garden was also project managed and built by Henley Salt, it was presented with a coveted RHS Silver Medal and the school girls were also rewarded with a visit from the Queen.

NEC BBC Gardeners World Live 2004
‘Dairy Crest a Taste of the Region’ : Silver-Gilt Medal Award

This garden was primarily designed as a marketing tool to get the show going public to taste regional cheeses in a garden environment. Davidstow cheese from Cornwall was represented by a Victorian plant collector’s garden. Wexford in Ireland had a small farmhouse, complete with dairy and the Welsh cheese garden had dramatic use of a mountain backdrop and water bleed paving.

Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2004
2no Silver Medal Awards

Another fine example of pushing the boundaries was the BBC Neighbourhood Garden. A bizarre blend of new and old, traditional and contemporary, the garden included graffiti, raised vegetable beds, an oak framed building, log walls, rubber safety surfacing and four smaller gardens by amateur designers who had won a BBC competition. It was reluctantly decided that this garden could not be entered for a medal, as it was perhaps a bit too radical and contentious for both the RHS judges and the viewing public.