Creating A Garden For RHS Chatsworth

The designer of the Best Show Garden at last year’s inaugural RHS Chatsworth Flower Show, Paul Hervey-Brookes, takes us behind the scenes with a look at his garden for this year’s show

The buzz of creating a show garden for one of the world-famous RHS Flower Shows never goes away, which is why I found myself, just days after leaving the grounds of RHS Chatsworth 2017, agreeing to design another garden for the 2018 show – this time for wealth management company Brewin Dolphin.

In fact, the ideas and inspiration for the garden had already started to formulate. During last year’s show, I met the Duke of Devonshire and was invited on a tour of Chatsworth House to see some of the fascinating renovations taking place. Taking me up on to the roof to give me a bird’s-eye view of the estate and the stunning landscape of the Peak District beyond, his Grace pointed to an area where the footprint of a former village could still be seen in dry weather. Dating from the 1700s, he explained that the village had been moved when Capability Brown redesigned the landscape, with his signature features of rolling grassland, lakes and trees that you see today.