RHS Chelsea - Shetland Croft House Garden

[Fifi]

Well, I wuz suprised to see ma hoose on Sunday's RHS Chelsea Flower Show BBC programme! They had obviously been filming in the Eshaness area <with some shots across to the West Ayre beach> for scenery shots and when talking to Ruth Fisher about her driftwood fence for the Shetland Croft House Garden at Chelsea - one of nine courtyard gardens being shown. They also filmed at Lea Gardens and spoke to Rosa Steppanova.

The Shetland Croft House Garden looked really nice - well done to all involved!

Shetland-inspired Garden from Nottingham Trent University
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A garden developed by staff and students from Nottingham Trent University will feature at this year’s prestigious Chelsea Flower Show. The Shetland Croft House Garden is based on an idea from Motor Neurone Disease Association co-founder Martin Anderson MBE and has been designed by Nottingham Trent University lecturer and garden designer Sue Hayward. The design is inspired by a typical 1940s Shetland Croft garden and will be one of nine courtyard gardens being showcased at the RHS event in May.

www.recklessgardener.co.uk/news/rhs-chelsea-round-up.html

www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea/2008/courtyard/shetland-croft-house-garden.asp

www.earthlygardendesigns.co.uk/blog.htm

[benjiesmum]

Ohhh! That looks lovely. I do hope that it wins a prize.

[maree]

Northmavine features heavily in the Shetland Croft House Garden. The stone for the crofthouse facade came from Ollaberry and is being auctioned to raise money for Motor Neurone Disease.

Ruth Fisher who bides in Sullom has created many of the drift wood exhibits in the garden including a bird, a table and the drift wood fence, as Fiona said.

Kale plants were provided by wir next door neighbours at Greenbrae - although there's still an abundance making good growth in the two yards near Greenbrae

[Fifi]

May 19, 2008 18:10:59 GMT 1 maree said:

Northmavine features heavily in the Shetland Croft House Garden. The stone for the crofthouse facade came from Ollaberry and is being auctioned to raise money for Motor Neurone Disease.

Yup, I forgot to mention that it was on ebay -

tinyurl.com/5ms8x9

"This project was funded privately without any substantial sponsorship to raise awareness for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and the Scottish Motor Neurone Disease Association. The exhibitor has personally put thousands of pounds into this project and needs to recoup some of the substantial costs he has incurred. Any excess raised will be divided between the two Motor Neurone Disease charities. It is also important that we are given an assurance that the croft house will be preserved."

[Fifi]

I hear it's got gold! Well done to everyone involved.

[deltinglass]

Yes well done indeed to everyone involved - excellent stuff!
Courtyard Garden Medals

[bod]

A well deserved result, really was a beautiful garden. Have never been to the Flower Show but I would love to go.

[benjiesmum]

Excellent result and well-deserved too! The starting price for the stones is £1000!!!!

[Fifi]

May 20, 2008 18:29:52 GMT 1 bod said:

A well deserved result, really was a beautiful garden. Have never been to the Flower Show but I would love to go.

Yeah, me too! Mebbe another year!

[Fifi]

I spotted this erudite piece in the Hickey column in yesterday's Daily Express regarding Shetland and the Shetland crofthouse at Chelsea -

"I see that some old codger has won a lovely prize at the Chelsea Flower Show for his recreation of a Shetland crofter's garden. Frankly, I cannot imagine there was much to do except introduce a few wind-blasted weeds, a couple of half-starved chickens, a corrugated iron shed, two abandoned Commer vans, a dirty outside lavatory, a broken gate tied with string, mud, a mangy dog and a foul-tempered crofter. Plus, to add authenticity, a couple of local drunks brawling in the filth."

[maree]

Well the good news is that folk who couldn't get to Chelsea to see the garden will soon be able to look at a reconstruction in the North Roe Community Garden here in Shetland!

We've been able to secure the plants and we're presently trying to get them transported to Shetland. It seemed such a shame that such a beautiful garden was only able to be seen by folk for a short week, so the community here in North Roe will now work at putting the garden back together. The project will be great for the community and will hopefully help to bring folk into North Roe to look at the garden.

As the garden was to raise awareness and funds for Motor Neurone Disease, we will be making a sizeable donation to the fund. This will mean that there's not much cash left in the community garden kitty, so we'll probably be organising a sponsored event in the community to raise further funds to help put the other elements of the garden in place.

I wondered aboot a sponsored wheelbarrow push from the Hillswick junction to the North Roe community garden (approx 10 miles)...........I'll have to make sure i'm IN the wheelbarrow though ;D

[maree]

Here's a peerie update on the Shetland Croft house garden. Streamline shipping have been really helpful and kind and have agreed to bring the plants to Shetland for a very reasonable sum. We're hoping that they'll be in Shetland next week some time. The North Roe Community Garden group are holding a meeting in the North Roe and Lochend hall on Thursday 12th June to consider a new layout for the garden and the sponsored event to raise funds. Look out for my sponsor form on the web in due course!!!!!!! ;D ;D

[maree]

The Shetland Crofthouse Chelsea plants arrived yesterday with a lot of help from those very nice folk at Streamline shipping. Big thanks also to Martin Anderson for all his help. Due to the hurricane and monsoon conditions, we didn't unpack the container until this morning. Here's a snap of the plants lined up against the garden wall.



Here's a piccie of the digger getting the site ready for us to recreate the garden. We're hoping to get a few expert local drystone dykers to reconstruct the crofthouse facade and small walls. Once this has been completed the plants can be added.



The garden has been suffering from a lack of volunteers over the years and, as a result, needs a lot of work. We now have a strong committee and lots of volunteer helpers - although we're always looking for more!! We're hoping to get professional help with the hard landscaping so that we take a lot of the back breaking work away from the local volunteers.



We look forward to welcoming you all to the reconstructed gold-medal winning Shetland Crofthouse garden in North Roe in the next couple of months!

[benjiesmum]

Excellent!

[benjiesmum]

May 23, 2008 17:39:07 GMT 1 Fifi said:

I spotted this erudite piece in the Hickey column in yesterday's Daily Express regarding Shetland and the Shetland crofthouse at Chelsea -

"I see that some old codger has won a lovely prize at the Chelsea Flower Show for his recreation of a Shetland crofter's garden. Frankly, I cannot imagine there was much to do except introduce a few wind-blasted weeds, a couple of half-starved chickens, a corrugated iron shed, two abandoned Commer vans, a dirty outside lavatory, a broken gate tied with string, mud, a mangy dog and a foul-tempered crofter. Plus, to add authenticity, a couple of local drunks brawling in the filth."

Why on Earth do people write stuff like this and have it printed? He obviously knows nothing about gardening.