HASLEMERE designer Robert Wadman is celebrating creating not just one but four gardens at Chelsea Flower Show 2018.

Robert, who runs New Barn Garden Design, worked with Hertfordshire based designer Kevin Bownes and 45 volunteers to provide a set of feature gardens in the grounds for the RHS, comprising the roundabout in the main entrance on Chelsea Embankment, a long border at the Sloan Square entrance and beds next to the Artisan Gardens.

Farnham-based basket maker Judith Needham, who teaches basket making and willow weaving in Surrey and Hampshire, created willow dens to add interest to the plantings.

The two designers worked together last summer on a show garden proposal. Their design work made an impression and it led to the duo being commissioned by the RHS to design specific areas to enhance this year’s show for the benefit of its 166,000 visitors.

Robert said: “I was delighted to win this commission for RHS Chelsea 2018. It’s a true feather in the cap for my local design firm. Kevin and I were assisted in the physical planting work on site by a small army of student volunteers from the London College of Garden Design.

“It has been a brilliant experience, despite two weeks of long days and blisters. But I had a good design partner and a willing army of volunteers. The 45 volunteers were all friends, graduates and students of the London College of Garden Design. I trained there at its site in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew.

“The build- up period at Chelsea is an intense experience like no other with all the different builders, plantspeople and designers pulling together. The only difficulty was navigating to our four separate gardens through the sheer volume of trucks, cranes and material being shunted around what is quite a small site. “Our beautiful willow dens were supplied to us by a Farnham-based maker, Judith Needham. ”