Joe Sanders has the most beautiful garden in our town. Nearly everybody enters for’ The Nicest Garden Competition’ each year, but Joe wins every time. Bill Frith's garden is larger than Joe's. Bill works harder than Joe and grows more flowers and vegetables, but Joe's garden is more interesting. He has made neat paths and has built a wooden bridge over a pool. I like gardens too, but I do not like hard work. Every year I enter for the garden competition too, and I always win a little prize for the worst garden in the town!
Every garden has a story and that, above all else, is a human tale. The more of yourself that you put in to your garden – and all good gardens are saturated with the personality and lives of their creators – the more personal it is.
Your garden becomes a living, breathing manifestation of yourself, with all your qualities – and failings – rooted in the ground. This personal element has always seemed to me to be at the heart of the very best gardens and what elevates them from public spaces.
When we walk around a garden made with love and skill by one or two people (no more, three is always a crowd when it comes to making a garden) we gain an insight into their lives that nothing else will give us, and our own lives are enriched by this above and beyond any horticultural delight.
It is simply a delight in sharing what the garden is rather than what you have done. And, anyway, every gardener knows that, often the very best things at any given moment are happy accidents rather than the result of skilled design or horticulture.
Devoted: Mary and Ian Hayter submitted their beautiful garden to last year's competition and made the finals .Yet I know from my own experiences of having my garden filmed and photographed, as well as scrutinised by visitors, that it is a pretty nerve-wracking thing. A kind of judgement is going on and it takes some courage to expose yourself to that. However, for the past 17 years the Daily Mail National Garden Competition has persuaded tens of thousands of readers to open their gardens to be scrutinised and evaluated.
The competition has been a huge success but this year the format is changing to include new elements, as well as a fabulous new prize for the ultimate winner. The biggest change is that you, the readers, will be the judges of the winner from our shortlist of five superb gardens.
Exotic location: The competition winner will stay at the Titchwell Manor Hotel near Brancaster, Norfolk
From applications sent in a shortlist of gardens will be selected and then visited by our panel of judges, headed by award-winning garden designer Tim Sharples.
Five gardens will be chosen and then photographed by the brilliant garden photographer Andrea Jones. Readers will then be able to see a slideshow of nine images of each of those five gardens by going to Mail Online and voting for the one they like best. So this truly will be a competition for you, and decided by you.
The winner will not necessarily be a garden that a small elite likes but, with the accessibility of the internet, a true reflection of what you all admire most in a garden.
The winner will be announced in August when you have made your collective decision and, apart from the pleasure of knowing their garden is one of the very best in the country, the successful entrant will also win a holiday for two visiting some of Britain’s most inspirational gardens.
Having spent nearly two years visiting gardens while filming the TV series Around The World In 80 Gardens, I can think of no better holiday for a keen gardener than to have their own efforts rewarded with a free trip to see beautiful gardens in lovely surroundings, accompanied by superb food. It is certainly something I long to do without a film crew in tow and a 12-hour filming day!
没有评论:
发表评论