The Plankbridge garden, created by triple Gold Medal Chelsea designers Woolcott & Smith, is a tranquil Dorset wildflower garden featuring a gentle stream, heathland and rare heritage vegetables growing in pots around a traditional Dorset shepherd’s hut.

The garden design was inspired by the beautiful Dorset countryside, immortalised by the county’s most famous writer Thomas Hardy in his novel ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’. The scaled-down shepherd’s hut, hand-built by Dorset hutmakers Plankbridge, is similar to one the shepherd Gabriel Oak would have used in the novel. This is the first year a shepherd’s hut has been shown at Chelsea.

The planting is mainly wild, native British flowers, climbers, grasses, trees and shrubs. Some are indigenous to damp meadows and marginal areas (near the stream), some to heathland areas (towards the top of the ‘hill’) and some to drier meadows. Unusual species include the Lesser Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera bifolia) and the Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa). Rare heritage vegetables growing in pots in front of the hut include an heritage beetroot (Beta vulgaris, ‘Covent Garden’), sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus ‘Heirloom Mixed’) and runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus ‘Fry’ / ‘Black Pod’). Woolcott & Smith have also found a place for their lucky stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) – a feature of all their winning gardens.

The shepherd’s hut has been fitted out for Chelsea as a contemporary writer’s retreat. The writer-in-residence on press day will be best-selling author Tracy Chevalier who wrote ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’. Tracy has a home in Dorset and has set several books in the area. She advised Plankbridge on how a writer would work in the hut and has loaned images which inspired her latest novel, due for publication next year. The images of a Victorian lady and American quilts are part of the hut’s interior scene. The exterior of the hut has been weathered by scenic artist Jonathan Holbrook who has worked on many high profile TV and film projects including ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’.

The shepherd’s hut design is based on an original Dorset Victorian blueprint, with extra craft details and comforts such as full insulation, making it warm and dry. The hut is externally clad in corrugated iron, the traditional material and still ideal for its practicality and strength. The hut’s red exterior is painted in ‘Shepherd’s Shirt’ from the Valtti range of paints, inspired by the painting The Hireling Shepherd by the pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman-Hunt. The interior walls are painted in Farrow & Ball’s Hay. The windows and door are in durable French oak. The show hut has been customised with a hand-made, leather-topped writing desk, an oak chair with sheepskin seat and a woodburner.

Plankbridge were one of the first companies to revive the Victorian craft of hutmaking since shepherd’s huts fell out of use with modern farming methods. Every Plankbridge hut is bespoke and a full size hut can be personalised in many ways, with bunks, double beds, mains or solar electricity, cupboards and Belfast sinks.

The Plankbridge garden will be returning to its Dorset roots and will be replanted at the home of Richard Lee and Jane Dennison (owners of Plankbridge) near Dorchester. Formerly, a watercress farm, the original watercress beds and stream are now a wetland garden and wildlife haven, bordered by a wildflower meadow.

Notes to editors

The Plankbridge Shepherd’s Hut Garden was designed by Woolcott & Smith www.woolcottandsmith.com Tel 01279 755965 and built by Conway Landscapes www.conwaylandscapes.com Tel 01279 508887. Heritage seeds were donated by Garden Organic.

For further information and images please contact Alicen Dines at Watershed PR on 01308 420785 alicen@watershedpr.co.uk

Images

(click to view/download at full size)

Chelsea garden drawing

Dogs and Plankbridge hut

Hut for Wriggly Tin glamping site

Jane Dennison & Richard Lee, Plankbridge

Jonathan Smith (left) and Adam Woolcott (right)

On Chelsea embankment

Plankbridge brochure (PDF)

Plankbridge hut interior

Plankbridge huts for Norfolk beach

Richard Lee making Chelsea shepherd’s chair

Richard with show hut

Southern marsh orchid

Summer hut by Alun Callender

Summer hut with nasturtiums

Made by Flyte So Fancy of Pulham, near Sturminster Newton, the unusual houses will appear alongside the company’s best selling, traditional coop.

‘Chicken keeping has really taken wing in the last few years, if you pardon the pun,’ says Anne Weymouth, who runs the company with her husband, Phillip.

‘Hens really are the perfect credit-crunch pets – they don’t cost much to keep, they have great personalities and there’s the extra bonus of tasty fresh eggs.’

Statistics show a dramatic rise in the number of people keeping hens as pets. According to the NFU Poultry Board more than three million chickens are kept in back gardens. Ten years ago it was estimated that 50,000 UK households kept chickens – the British Hen Welfare Trust says that’s grown to more than half a million.

Flyte So Fancy has grown with the trend. It’s now the biggest UK-based maker and supplier of poultry keeping houses and equipment. This year the company is attending the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show for the first time.

‘When we started nearly 11 years ago we aimed to provide quality henhouses that were practical and sturdy, but also beautiful to have in your garden,’ says Phillip.

‘As time has gone by, the houses have become more elaborate, but they are all still highly practical, even the Gypsy.’

The stars of the show at Hampton Court are likely to be the Gypsy and the Granary house. Built as a romantic hideaway for up to 15 lucky chickens, The Gypsy is the ultimate luxury henhouse. Taking its inspiration from the traditional Gypsy wagons, it boasts an impressive list of quality features including solid marine chandlery brass fittings, heavy gauge steel galvanized and trim-finished roof and hand-made solid steel steerable wheels and axles.

The Granary offers a very different look. Flyte So Fancy recently took over the manufacture and supply of the Granary Henhouse range from friends Marvin and Rebecca Butchers of New Barn Timber in Hampshire, who are designing the stand’s garden setting.

The Granary range has appeared at Hampton Court over a number of years and its unique design has won medals and a great deal of praise for its mix of style and functionality. Made from finest timber and resting on resin staddle stones, it can accommodate anything from six to 30 happy hens.

The final house on the Hampton Court stand is the best-selling Maggie’s Six Henhouse. Elegant, beautifully designed and available in a range of colours, this country classic that makes an enchanting addition to any garden with room for up to six hens.

PHOTO CAPTION:

Flyte So Fancy owners Anne and Phillip Weymouth with the Gypsy Henhouse they are taking to RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

NOTE TO EDITORS

For more information or to arrange an interview with Anne or Phillip Weymouth please contact Sara Hudston at Watershed PR on 01308 420 785, email sara@watershedpr.co.uk

Flyte So Fancy was founded in 2001 by husband and wife team Anne and Phillip Weymouth. This friendly, family firm has grown to be the biggest and best UK-based manufacturer and supplier of poultry equipment. It now employs 21 people in the tiny village of Pulham near Sturminster Newton. All Flyte So Fancy houses are built to the highest standards in Dorset using FSC certified timber, always keeping quality at the heart of everything they do. See www.flytesofancy.co.uk

The RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show takes place on 3-8 July this year and offers a showcase for all things garden-related. See http://bit.ly/Ios2zQ

ENDS

The team of furniture makers at Simon Thomas Pirie in Briantspuddle has crafted an exquisite curving steamed and scorched oak bench. Along its winding 10-metre path are single ‘throne’-like chairs, side-by-side love seats, more conventional three-seat benches and open areas for informal sitting. The bench has been installed in the Tudor Arcade in Dorchester.

Now, in a creative launch, it has been officially ‘sat on’ by artists who are taking part in Dorset Art Weeks (26 May – 9 June 2012). Simon Pirie, whose workshop (venue 36) is one of the 360 venues for Dorset Art Weeks, said: ‘We are part of the local community of artists and makers and we want people in Dorchester to experience this bench as a new social meeting point.’

Steven Rafferty, Asset Manager for the Business UK Property Fund (BUPF), which owns the Tudor Arcade, commissioned the bench. He said: ‘Simon Thomas Pirie has replaced four standard park-style benches with something which is like a sculpture or a piece of art, which creates a talking point.’

Architect Gavin Hutchison, of Hutchison Kivotos Architects in London, found Simon Thomas Pirie after searching for a master furniture maker living and working near the county town. He said: ‘Public art is a way of adding quality to a space and creating a focal point. This shopping arcade had been designed in the 80’s and needed to be shown a little love, so we asked Simon Pirie to design us a love seat. We wanted something functional that had a sense of craft and joy, and he has delivered.’

Simon Pirie is holding an online auction of his work where designer furniture can be bought at a discount. The Courtyard Workshop will be open as usual during Dorset Art Weeks, so people are also able to see the furniture and leave a bid, as well as doing it online. For more details, go to the Simon Thomas Pirie Facebook Page.

You can watch the video of Simon Pirie and his team steambending and scorching the timber for the Tudor Arcade bench at the Simon Thomas Pirie YouTube channel. There is also a short video of the bench being installed.

Find out more about Dorset Art Weeks at the official website www.dorsetartweeks.co.uk

About Simon Thomas Pirie:  makers of beautiful contemporary furniture, kitchens and public artwork.

Simon Pirie originally trained as a sculptor before attending Hooke Park College, near Beaminster, part of John Makepeace’s Parnham Trust. He went on to teach furniture and product design at Bournemouth University, establishing his first workshop in 1998 in Dorset, England. Since then, he has designed exquisite work for discerning clients in the UK and further afield. Whether it’s a small side table, a complete interior or seating for a town square, all the work that leaves Simon’s workshop is given the same attention to detail by the small dedicated team of makers. Simon also enjoys working with architects and interior designers on larger projects and has an established a strong track record of working collaboratively.

Mr Holbrook has created special effects for numerous films and TV programmes including Pirates of the Caribbean, The Golden Compass, Lark Rise to Candleford, Roald Dahl’s Danny Champion of the World and The Famous Five.

His mission at Plankbridge’s workshop in Piddlehinton was to make a gleamingly new hand-built hut look like it had been used for three years as a writer’s garden retreat. This will set the stage for best-selling author Tracy Chevalier, who is going to be the hut’s writer-in-residence at Chelsea, in the Plankbridge Shepherd’s Hut Garden, a Dorset wildflower garden.

Mr Holbrook said: ‘I have lots of secret recipes that I keep in my head, and whole menus that I’ve built up over the years. With this hut, all my training over the years has come together, lots of knowledge and use of waxes and stains and colours and fixatives. It’s all gone just as I hoped.

‘So there’s a light area on the floor where the writer would have paced up and down thinking about what to write. There are chair scrapes and bashes from over the years where the chair has rubbed against the wall. The leather writing surface on the desk is slightly dented and waxed.

‘There’s a good build up of mist on the windows, there’s smoke from the stove and dust on the lamp, the metalwork has faded and the paint’s gone matt… I’ve gone round everything!’

The outside of the hut has also been weathered to emulate the effects of nature, exactly as they would have occurred had the hut really stood for three years in the show garden. Plankbridge’s show garden was designed by triple Chelsea Gold Medal winners Jonathan Smith and Adam Woolcott, who specialise in nostalgic, naturalistic gardens using original, reclaimed materials.

Mr Holbook worked out the angles at which sunlight would fall to create the correct patinas of algae and moss and lichen, and how the hut would be shaded by the tree over one corner. House martin nests have fallen from the eaves and birds have visited the roof.

Richard Lee, co-founder of Plankbridge, said: ‘I deliberately didn’t watch Jonathan at work because they’re his trade secrets and I don’t want to know how he’s done what he’s done. But I’m really impressed. He’s done a proper job.’

Mr Holbrook said: ‘I hope people will see it as a warm and lovely place to escape to and the ideal thing to have at the bottom of your garden.’

He added: ‘I’ve enjoyed the fact that Plankbridge is so genuine. There are 10 people working here – local labour and it’s a genuine product. Made in England, traditional; I think it’s marvellous.’

The Plankbridge shepherd’s hut will be the first ever to feature in a show garden at Chelsea.

Richard Lee and Plankbridge co-founder Jane Dennison began making shepherd’s huts 12 years ago after becoming fascinated by an ancient hut they saw while walking along an old drover’s road near Thomas Hardy’s birthplace.

Richard said: ‘Little did I think it would lead to all this. It’s a big adventure. I like the fact that you don’t know where it’s going to take you.’

PICTURE CAPTION: Images show scenic artist Jonathan Holbrook working on the Plankbridge shepherd’s hut for RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012.

NOTE TO EDITOR:

The Plankbridge Shepherd’s Hut Garden is Show Garden Ref SEW7 in the Artisan Gardens area of the show.

Sponsor:  Plankbridge Hutmakers, Dorset www.plankbridge.com

Designers: Woolcott & Smith www.woolcottandsmith.com

Construction: Conway Landscapes www.conwaylandscapes.com

For more information, please contact Alicen Dines or Jonathan Hudston at Watershed PR on Tel 01308 420785 alicen@watershedpr.co.uk or jonathan@watershedpr.co.uk.

The pair will ride the 54 miles from Watchet in Somerset to West Bay in Dorset on 20 May.

Darren is cycling with a group from his home village of Burton Bradstock, while Cleeves plans to do the challenge with two friends who are coming down from London for the event. They are among many cyclists who have entered the ride.

‘Palmers has long supported Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance – 5p from every pint of our Palmers 200 goes to the charity,’ Cleeves explained.

‘The cycle challenge is a bit of fun and the chance to prove we can go that extra mile for them!’

For more information about the challenge and how you can support it, please visit http://www.dsairambulance.org.uk/c2c-cycle-challenge/ Darren has Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/darrenbatten

PHOTO CAPTION

Palmers sales and marketing director Cleeves Palmer, left, and head brewer Darren Batten in training for the C2C cycle challenge.

NOTE TO EDITORS

For more information please contact Sara Hudston at Watershed PR 01308 420 785.

Palmers: Brewing finest ales since 1794. In 1794, Dorset rope and net makers the Gundry family built a brewery on the banks of the River Brit in Bridport. In the late 19th century, two Palmer brothers – John Cleeves and Robert Henry – bought the operation and its pubs and gave it their names: JC & RH Palmer. Today, their great grandsons John and Cleeves Palmer work in the company and Palmers Brewery remains among the best of small independent brewers.

The original Old Brewery – famous as the only thatched brewery in Britain – is where the beer is still brewed to traditional methods with the finest ingredients. Palmers’ pubs include some of the best known and best loved in the South West in pretty country villages, deep in Hardy Country and on the World Heritage Jurassic Coast.

A brewery tour of Palmers historic brewery buildings allows visitors to see each stage of the brewing process and taste the Palmers five fine draught ales:

Palmers Copper Ale – a delightfully light, refreshingly fruity and hoppy beer (3.7% ABV).

Palmers Best Bitter – a full-drinking, well-balanced beer (4.2% ABV).

Palmers Dorset Gold – a refreshing and thirst-quenching golden premium ale (4.5% ABV).

Palmers 200 – created to celebrate 200 years of brewing, this popular premium ale (5.0% ABV) was described by beer guru Roger Protz as “a finely balanced blend of malt, hops and quenching citric fruitiness.”

Palmers Tally Ho! – a strong, nutty, full strength dark beer (5.5% ABV).

Visit: www.palmersbrewery.com

Follow on Twitter @palmersbrewery and join us on Facebook.

ENDS

Deputy swanherd Steve Groves said: ‘Over the weekend it was the worst weather for hatching that I can remember, and I’ve been working here for 23 years.

‘So when these first six cygnets hatched over the weekend, Mum kept them in the nest with her. That’s OK, because they’re born with enough reserves to last them for a couple of days, but they can’t all stay there forever.

‘Mum might not have eaten much for days or even weeks, because swans really do stay sitting on their nests – and in the end it’s a choice between hunger and the weather.’

All six cygnets finally clambered out of the nest when the sun broke out over Abbotsbury Swannery on Monday. The Swannery is the only place in the world where visitors can walk every day through a colony of mute swans, see cygnets hatching and participate in mass feedings at 12 noon and 4pm.

‘It’s a magical sight,’ said Steve. ‘Every year, it never fails to warm your heart.’

The mother of the cygnets is called Phoebe, the father Harry.

Steve said: ‘The old adage that swans mate for life is generally true, but not always, as we can see with these two.’

Staff at Abbotsbury Swannery keep minutely detailed records of swans, partly to help ornithological researchers at Oxford University. The records mean that it’s possible to trace swans’ life stories.

In this case, Phoebe is on to her third mate, having been widowed twice. Harry left another bird for Phoebe.

Phoebe hatched in 1999. She first paired up in 2004 but the two birds didn’t breed and in 2005 her mate died. In 2006 Phoebe paired up again – but her mate died during nesting and so there were no cygnets. In 2007 and 2008 Phoebe didn’t try to nest at all.

Harry, meanwhile, was born in 2001. In 2008 he first nested with another bird.

Then in 2009 he met Phoebe. But their eggs failed to hatch. In 2010 they tried again, and cygnets hatched on the 10th of May. In 2011, their eggs failed to hatch.

Steve said: ‘Now this year they’ve got six cygnets, before any other pair has even had one. And they’re among the earliest cygnets to hatch that we’ve ever had. Normally it’s mid-May.

‘This Swannery has been established for nearly 1000 years but there is still always something happening to surprise you.’

Abbotsbury Swannery was established in the 11^th century by Benedictine monks. Legend has it that the hatching of the first cygnets marks the first day of summer.

PHOTO CAPTION

Download hi-res photo

Abbotsbury Swannery’s first cygnets of 2012 leave the nest for the first time. The third one takes a tumble while his family look on.

NOTE TO EDITORS

For more information, or to arrange interviews, please call Jonathan Hudston or Emily Pykett at Watershed PR. Tel: 01308 420785. Email: jonathan@watershedpr.co.uk or emily@watershedpr.co.uk

Fast facts:

· Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset, UK, was established by Benedictine Monks who built a monastery next to Chesil Beach during the 1040s. The monks farmed the swans for lavish banquets.

• The birds are fed wheat up to three times a day while nesting.
• Abbotsbury Swannery conserves the only managed colony of nesting mute swans in the world.
• Hundreds of cygnets hatch from mid-may to late June – exact dates for this year’s hatching will be announced soon.
• Swans can live for as long as 20 years.
• A female swan is called a pen.
• A male swan is called a cob. In mute swans you can tell the difference because the cob has a slightly larger ‘berry’ above its beak.
• There’s lots to do in Abbotsbury – visitors can also enjoy the amazing sub-tropical gardens, medieval tithe barn and children’s play farm.

ENDS

Ben was on hand at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA), with David Dunn, Chairman of the Trustees of the Chesil Trust, to take care of the cheque donated by Palmers Brewery of Bridport.

For every pint of Palmers’ Dorset Gold sold in Dorset, 5p is donated to the Trust. In the last year more than 115,000 pints were sold, making over £5,700 for the Trust. Sales of Dorset Gold have grown rapidly since its introduction in 1999, and the ale is now available in bottles as well as on draught, with 5p per bottle on every bottle sold across the UK going to the Trust. In total, Palmers has donated over £16,000 since it began supporting the Chesil Trust in 2007.

This premium fine ale is particularly popular in the summer months, and is now stocked at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA).

The Chesil Trust assists in the provision of facilities for training in sailing and seamanship and other activities. To date the Trust has enabled almost 9,000 children to go sailing for the first time and has also assisted talented young sailors from Dorset, who between them have won a number of major competitions, including three Gold medals at the World Youth Sailing Championships. One of these young sailors has now joined the Team GBR Olympic Development Squad.

Much of the activity funded by the Chesil Trust takes place at WPNSA, and many of the young people therefore get their sailing experience at the venue for the sailing competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

Cleeves Palmer, Sales and Marketing Director at Palmers Brewery, said: ‘Sailing is not a sport many would be able to do without the help from the Chesil Trust. Through donations like these, Palmers is pleased to help introduce youngsters to the sport and see their interest grow from strength to strength.’

The Chesil Trust, SailLaser, the Weymouth Outdoor Education Centre (WOEC) and WPNSA are actively working together to provide reduced-rate community sailing programmes. Although the academy is the Games venue and a training ground for the UK’s top sailors including Olympic Gold Medallists Nick Dempsey and Ben Ainslie, it also aims to promote the sport of sailing to all levels of competence and ability, through courses, training and events, while supporting and working closely with the local Dorset community.

David Dunn, Chairman of the Trustees of the Chesil Trust, said: ‘Generous donations such as this from Palmer’s Brewery allows for the continual development of community sailing both at WPNSA and WOEC, providing opportunities to build a sporting legacy.

‘Through SailLaser and WOEC, the academy has already run a number of successful events in conjunction with the Chesil Trust, such as the ‘SSE Sail for a Fiver’ initiative with local school children. Chesil Trust events have always been a tremendous success and thanks to the Palmers Brewery we can introduce more children to the exciting sport of sailing.’

PICTURE CAPTION: From left: Ben Ainslie and Chairman of the Chesil Trust David Dunn receive the cheque from Palmers’ Head Brewer Darren Batten and Sales and Marketing Director Cleeves Palmer.

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy: The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy  (WPNSA) is a world class sailing venue and effectively promotes the sport of sailing to all levels of competence and ability, through courses, training and events, whilst supporting and working closely with the local community.  The WPNSA will be the venue for the sailing competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, Weymouth and Portland has been recognised as having some of the best boating waters on the planet.  The Academy currently runs a number of high profile regattas throughout the year and boasts fantastic conference and event facilities.  The WPNSA is committed to conserving the local environment winning the 2008 Sport Industry Award for Environmental Concern in Sport as well as being shortlisted for the 2010 Sport Industry Award for ‘Sport Venue of the Year’ and 2011 Sport Industry Award for Sport Participation Event of the Year www.wpnsa.org.uk

 Palmers: Brewing finest ales since 1794.

 In 1794, Dorset rope and net makers the Gundry family built a brewery on the banks of the River Brit in Bridport. In the late 19th century, two Palmer brothers – John Cleeves and Robert Henry – bought the operation and its pubs and gave it their names: JC & RH Palmer. Today, their great grandsons John and Cleeves Palmer work in the company and Palmers Brewery remains among the best of  small independent brewers in the UK. The original Old Brewery – famous as the only thatched brewery in Britain – is where the beer is still brewed to traditional methods with the finest ingredients.

Palmers’ pubs include some of the best-known and best-loved in the South West in pretty country villages, deep in Hardy Country and on the World Heritage Jurassic Coast.

Tracy visited the Plankbridge workshop in Piddlehinton this week to see the special shepherd’s hut they are building for Chelsea.

The inspiration

The Plankbridge Shepherd’s Hut garden is a nostalgic, relaxing, Dorset wild flower garden, featuring the first shepherd’s hut to be exhibited in a show garden at RHS Chelsea.

The garden design was inspired by the Dorset countryside and elements of the Plankbridge Hutmakers’ private garden at Waterston Springs, near Dorchester, which includes disused watercress beds and a chalk stream within a wildlife haven.

The shepherd’s hut has been adapted as a writer’s retreat in honour of Thomas Hardy, Dorset’s most famous writer. Scenes from Far From the Madding Crowd, including those with shepherd Gabriel Oak, were set in fields near Plankbridge Hutmakers. On Press Day, the hut will be used by best-selling author Tracy Chevalier, who has a home in Dorset. Tracy will be working on the manuscript of her new novel, which is set in Dorset and America.

The shepherd’s hut

The shepherd’s hut was hand built to fit the garden area by Richard Lee of Plankbridge Hutmakers. He used Plankbridge’s authentic Victorian designs with some unique design additions, including the curved door and two inch thick steam bent oak ceiling ribs. The shepherd’s chair is crafted from French oak and upholstered in sheepskin. The hut colour on the exterior is ‘shepherd’s shirt’, from the Valtti range of paints, inspired by a Pre-Raphaelite painting called ‘The Hireling Shepherd’, painted in 1851 by William Holman Hunt. The hut was weathered to suit the garden scheme by scenic artist Jonathan Holbrook, who has worked on major film and TV projects including Pirates of the Caribbean, The Golden Compass and Lark Rise to Candleford.

Garden designers

The show garden is designed by triple RHS Gold Medal winners Adam Woolcott and Jonathan Smith. They specialise in naturalistic planting and beautiful, nostalgic gardens. Woolcott & Smith share the same love for craft, beauty and attention to detail as the Plankbridge team. Adam and Jonathan have included their ‘secret weapon’ lucky stinging nettle in the design, which has featured in their previous three Chelsea award-winning gardens.

Plants to look out for include the Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), which grows abundantly at Plankbridge, plus rare heritage vegetable varieties grown from seed kindly donated by the Heritage Seed Library, part of Garden Organic, the UK’s largest organic gardening charity. Varieties include runner beans ‘Blackpod’ and ‘Fry’ plus ‘Convent Garden’ beetroot. The ‘Convent Garden’ beetroot was first described in 1885.

Photocall at Chelsea

On Press Day at Chelsea, best-selling author, Tracy Chevalier will be writer-in-residence in the shepherd’s hut. Tracy has a home in Dorset and has published six novels, including Girl with a Pearl Earring, which was famously adapted for film starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. Two of Tracy’s earlier books feature Dorset characters and settings and her new novel (to be published in spring 2013) tells the story of a Victorian Quaker who emigrates from Dorset to America in 1850. Tracy will be working on the manuscript of her new novel in the hut and will be available for interview and filming as requested.

Tracy says: ‘I love the shepherd’s hut. Having a portable room of my own like that would be very inspiring, and helpful to get me away from the rest of my life. Sadly my garden in Dorset is too small for one, but you can always dream.’

 The Plankbridge Shepherd’s Hut Garden is being constructed by Conway Landscapes.