GALLERY: Holker Garden Festival celebrates 20th year (From The Westmorland Gazette)
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GALLERY: Holker Garden Festival celebrates 20th year
5:16pm Thursday 14th June 2012 in Cumbria news
The show is known as 'the Chelsea of the North'
HOLKER Garden Festival celebrated its 20th anniversary with some stunning displays.
Its reputation as the ‘Chelsea of the North’ was yet again secured by the 'high standard' of entries which dazzled judges over the event’s three days.
Gardeners from across the country showed exhibits and there was a royal touch to the festival with a floral art marquee themed around the Diamond Jubilee.
New for this year were a host of activities to allow children to show off their creative skills as they rolled up their sleeves to make a wide and quirky mix of wild beast crafts.
There was also a Victorian fairground for festival goers to step back in time and experience the thrills of the 19th century, from a strong man competition to a carousel.
Bad weather on the first two days kept spectator numbers down to around 14,000 compared to last year's 30,000, but festival director Sarah Ross said it had still been a 'fantastic event'.
She said: “Sunday was our best day, – the sun was out and we had huge crowds. It was a wonderful 20th show. The judges' opinions of what was on offer was that entries are getting better and better in terms of their standards. It is one of the big shows and it's fantastic to have it here."
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Taking home the top award for best show garden was Burneside’s John Roberts, who is the working director at Sharp Paving Ltd. He said the idea for his 'Tap into a Magic Garden' display came while drinking a couple of glasses of wine.
“I wanted to base my garden around magic taps, which appear to stand in mid air," said Mr Roberts. "It took me a couple of weeks to work out the planting around the taps. I decided on lots of blue and purple shades running into it.”
