Welsh Slate Hard Landscaping at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival

Products from Welsh Slate, part of Accredited Supplier The Breedon Group, have helped another landscape designer to a RHS award.

Following hard on the heels of its role in a multi-award-winning garden at Chelsea Flower Show this year, another garden featuring Welsh Slate products has won an award at the current RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival (July 3-7).

The Magic Moss Garden, one of five “Get started gardens” at the palace, which features Welsh Slate walling, coping stones and paving from its hard landscaping range, has won its designer Bea Tann her second Silver Gilt medal from the RHS.

The garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show which showcased a range of Welsh Slate products won a brace of awards on its first day in May. The ‘Terrence Higgins Trust Bridge to 2030 garden’ designed by Matthew Childs and built by Yoreland Design won a Silver Gilt Medal for its design and a Best Construction Award for its build*.

Bea’s Magic Moss Garden at Hampton Court was designed for a young couple living in a new-build house in north-west England. Built by Everest Garden Landscapes and garden and landscaping consultant Gareth Wilson, and sponsored by RSK Group, it seeks to harness the power of moss, bringing the magic of UK woodlands to an urban garden. Inspired by these ancient landscapes, the design centres on a small space that is contemporary, while celebrating the charm of the natural world.

A moss lawn provides the base of the design, encouraging eco-friendly gardening, emphasising both the beauty and functionality of moss. Connected to the new-build home, it shows the potential to create an oasis using simple techniques in a small space. The sunken seating allows visitors to be immersed in the woodland-inspired planting.

In 2022, Bea Tann designed The Enchanted Rain Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, winning a Silver-gilt medal and becoming the youngest ever female medalist at the show at age 22. The same year, she also designed the RHS and BBC North West Urban Community Garden at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park.

Her Magic Moss Garden also re-used Blue Grey roofing slates from Welsh Slate’s Ffestiniog quarry which featured on designer Paul Hervey-Brookes’ RBC Brewin Dolphin Garden at Chelsea last year.

The ‘Terrence Higgins Trust Bridge to 2030 garden’ was inspired by rejuvenated slate quarry landscapes, which were used as a metaphor for resilience and how much things have changed with HIV in the UK since the 1980s. Key features included a striking monolith Welsh Slate stepping stone bridge and steps produced from custom cuts and bi-product of Ffestiniog slate. Supplementing this was a textural path produced from Type 2 pillared, rustic and narrow pillared walling, all from the Ffestiniog quarry.

The path was complemented by a contemporary drystone wall produced from reclaimed Ffestiniog walling slate, in addition to planting in crevices created by Ffestiniog primary off-cuts - sawn off-cuts from slate blocks before they are split.

Boulders from Welsh Slate’s Penrhyn Quarry also featured throughout - one as a balancing sculpture, one as part of Welsh designer Swyn Anwyl Williams’ furniture design, and another with cuts as a water feature.

Reclaimed Ffestiniog roofing slates cladded the interior sides of the tiered garden pond at the front of the garden, and paths and garden mulches were formed from Welsh Slate aggregate - Grey Blinding 14mm to dust and Grey 10mm to 20mm.