Chris Beardshaw is one of our most socially responsible garden designers, but I was struck by the difference between the idealised group of community gardens he has created with volunteers for the Hampton Court Flower Show and the on-the-ground reality of a local community garden I’ve had a small involvement with in St Leonard’s on Sea. The Hampton Court gardens are all very beautiful, enclosed behind neat brick walls with wonderful herbaceous planting, an immaculate vegetable garden, a woodland copse – and Chris has obviously managed to persuade his contacts to be very generous with landscaping materials and plants. It’s great that he is promoting community gardens, but if you want to be really inspired read about The Moveable Feast Garden in St Leonard’s.
