About

Inspiring gardeners to help save the water vole is the theme of a new garden – River & Rowing Museum’s Ratty's Refuge – at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May. The garden also celebrates the 100^th birthday of Kenneth Grahame’s classic book The Wind in the Willows, the star of which is Ratty - a water vole. The Museum in Henley on Thames houses the only dedicated Wind in the Willows exhibition in the UK.

About the garden

This is a contemporary urban garden, using naturalistic planting to create a green refuge for people and wildlife. The lush planting contrasts with the geometric simplicity of the environmentally-friendly decking combined with grids.

The planting is a mixture of native species from Cambourne in Cambridgeshire, together with garden cultivars; predominantly green with yellow, blue and white. Key plants include native willows and moisture-loving plants that provide water voles with food and habitat.

River & Rowing Museum’s Ratty’s Refuge is being created by garden designers English Eden in consultation with The Wildlife Trusts. British Wildflower Plants have supplied a range of plants and Water In The South East is also supporting the project.

The design process started a full year ahead, while the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2007 was in progress. Ann Robinson from the team explains...

"Angela and I had been involved in the Capel Manor College ‘Growing Together in Faith’ garden and were determined to submit our own design for 2008.

We discovered that 2008 was the centenary of the publication of Wind in the Willows and we were inspired by our love of the book and its characters. Ratty is the kind and good natured water vole who famously states ‘there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats’. His exploits transport the reader into a gentle bucolic world in which the characters switch seamlessly from their natural animal habitats to living as humans.

Water voles are the most endangered mammal in the UK. Angela had first hand experience of the plight of the species as she had been involved in a water vole recovery programme in her Cambridgeshire village. We researched the subject in great detail, seeking advice from academics at Oxford University and The Wildlife Trusts and it became clear that gardeners could play a significant part.

Over the summer we continued to research the subject and we followed several different paths, but nothing was absolutely right. Angela read biographies of the author Kenneth Grahame and Ann researched Edwardian planting as we searched for our ideal design. Several design ideas were developed. It felt like there was a snowstorm in our heads; we had lots of concepts, but were not sure exactly how to represent them for the greatest impact.

By the beginning of September we decided that the garden should be a modern urban garden. This appealed to us for several reasons. We had read that new gardens were getting smaller and smaller, and had also been told by The Wildlife Trusts that any garden in Cambourne, a new village with plenty of small gardens in Cambridgeshire, could support water voles because of the proximity to water. This provided the blueprint we were looking for, and thus Ratty’s Refuge, the green urban retreat for water voles and humans, was born.

We then had five weeks to submit the idea to the RHS together with the supporting documentation. We knew that a well researched application would enhance our chances of being selected for this most prestigious horticultural show. At this point Sylvia and Jean joined the team and gave us their much valued support to submitting the design and after several weeks of sleepless nights I delivered our application to the RHS at their Vincent Square offices by hand on the closing date.

Five weeks later we opened the envelope and screamed! We had been accepted.

Subsequently we have been thrilled to find sponsors who are such a perfect match for the garden. River & Rowing Museum’s permanent Wind in the Willows exhibition, and educational aims, mirror the garden beautifully. The decking is made from the former terrace at the River & Rowing Museum. The boards were lifted and sand-blasted, and are in keeping with the sustainable nature of the garden. In the design we had incorporated several sustainable features, such as permeable landscaping and water harvesting. These are very important to Water in the South East, who subsequently became secondary sponsors of the garden. Native planting is key to making a water vole friendly garden so we were delighted to be sponsored by the specialist nursery British Wildflower Plants, and also by our alma mater, Capel Manor College.”

About the garden designers

English Eden is a Garden & Planting Design company based in Cambridge and London. It was established in 2006 by the partners Angela Potter and Ann Robinson who are both graduates of the Capel Manor College Garden & Planting Design Diploma.

Angela and Ann were long standing friends who decided to embark on their four years of garden design studies together. Angela is a life-long passionate gardener and Ann has always had a keen eye for design. This was a second career for both of them. Graduates in English and Geography respectively, Angela had previously worked in tourism and Ann had been a solicitor.

“When you design, all your previous experiences inform your choices, so we find our backgrounds make us better designers” says Angela.

Their first joint project was to design a water garden for Anglo Aquarium Plant and Grand Marnier to be built at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Show 2007. They were runners up in that competition and it gave them valuable insight into how they could work on the design process together.

“We have very similar tastes, and the same design philosophy, which is crucial when working together and helps the design process flow easily” explains Ann.

Their ethos is to design gardens which are sympathetic to the related architecture and surrounding environment and wherever possible to incorporate sustainable materials and ecological planting. These principals can be applied to any garden from small urban courtyard to large family garden.

River & Rowing Museum's Ratty’s Refuge is their first show garden, and they are thrilled that it is going to be at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2008. They are very grateful to Sylvia Ong-Mörtl and Jean Thomas for their valuable support in bringing this project to fruition.

Angela Potter 07810 188372
Ann Robinson 07765 254600

www.english-eden.co.uk

PLANT LIST

SIDES

Angelica archangelica
Darmera peltata
Hosta 'Pastures Green'
Iris sibirica 'Tropic Night'
Ligularia 'Little Rocket'
Matteuccia struthiopteris
Persicaria bistorta 'Superba'
Ranunculus flammula
Rodgersia pinnata
Trollius europaeus

UNDER GRID

Adoxa moschatellina
Asarum europaeum
Asplenium scolopendrium
Asplenium trichomanes
Chrysosplenium oppositifolium
Cyrtomium fortunei
Luzula campestris
Lysimachia nummularia
Polystichum setiferum

POND PLANTING

Alisma plantago-aquatica
Iris pseudacorus
Nymphaea 'Marliacea Albida'
Sagittaria sagittifolia

SHRUBS

Corylus avellana (in the planters)
Salix viminalis (fedge)
Viburnum opulus 'Aureum' (on bank)

PLANTERS

Fragaria vesca
Brizia media
Galium odoratum

BANK

Veronica chamaedrys
Brizia media
Juncus effusus
Geum rivale
Potentilla arserina
Ranunculus acris
Mentha aquatica
Carex paniculata
Carex riparia
Carex pendula
Cynosurus cristatus
Lychnis flos-cuculi
Luzula pilosa
Luzula campestris
Anthriscus sylvestris
Cardamine pratensis
Iris pseudacorus
Valeriana dioica
Bellis perennis
Ranunculus flammula
Leucanthemum vulgare
Salvia pratensis
Filipendula ulmaria
Festuca rubra
Anthoxanthum odoratum
Glechoma hederacea
Juncus inflexus