These are blog posts that Tony Smith has made.
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It seemed like a good idea at the time … a phrase I find myself using with increasing regularity since taking on the task of designing three show gardens for Quilted Velvet. Chelsea alone would be a challenge but to take on Hampton Court and Tatton Park is bordering on the insane.
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If you see humanity as a broad spectrum, with malevolent monsters (can’t think of any off hand!) at one extreme and saint like figures at the other, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Sir Bob spring to mind, then what we deal with every day are the many shades of grey in between.
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I have long held the view that a great deal can be told about people and organisations by examining their lavatorial arrangements. This is not a view I have arrived at hastily or without a great deal of research!
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There are some things in life that only those who have actually experienced them can truly comprehend. Amongst these I would imagine looking at the Earth from space, being the Queen, and becoming a mother, ouch! One that I don’t have to imagine is designing a garden for Chelsea. If you add to this that I am repeating the process at Hampton Court and Tatton Park there are only very few people who could possibly empathise. Help!!! I could shout, but I know there is no one out there
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With less than a week before we arrive on site it’s a case of checking and double checking all the plans. No matter how many times I go over the build schedule I still feel there’s something I have forgotten. You try to think of everything, knowing full well that something unexpected will come along and test you at some point.
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There is usually a point in a large project when the full gravity of the undertaking hits home. This time it’s been a bit different. Perhaps waves would be a good description; small waves of concern interspersed with larger waves of panic, all wrapped up in an extremely thin veneer of total confidence and self assurance.
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We started on Friday; marking out and then digging out, followed by setting out and on Saturday afternoon we came out of the ground. As I can’t think of any more outs, well not appropriate ones anyway, I shall now talk about the weather
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I hope I don’t live to regret saying this, but it feels like we are turning a corner. As usually happens at a certain stage of a project, I start to see encouraging glimpses of the vision that until now has only existed in my head
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Well, rather a lot of the former and a small glimmer of the latter.
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The last two and a half weeks at Hampton Court have been spent erecting green oak structures and planting thousands of oak seedlings, as well as over a thousand purple heather plants. All of this and more in order to create the second Quilted Velvet garden of the summer. This garden is much easier to put together than our Chelsea design, but it’s still hard work, seven days a week starting at 7am and finishing at nine in the evening. The extreme heat has affected both us and the plants, with the danger of grass turning brown and oaks shrivelling in the scorching sun. We have had to devote a lot of time to watering, and this has slowed the rate of progress.
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