´óÏó´«Ã½

The Cheeswrings, Cornwall (photo: Mischa Haller)

During last year's a potential sponsor collared me to ask if I was up for 2011. Amy Whidburn from Homebase wanted a show garden that celebrated a life stage and exuded health and well being. What a fantastic brief and, what's more, a whole twelve months to organise it - brilliant!

To me, Amy's brief leant towards a Cornish themed idea - celebration, holidays, change of pace, recreation - you get the picture. And being of Cornish extraction, it all made perfect sense, and a great excuse to visit my old stomping ground.

has so many subjects to draw from for inspiration but the moor, coast and gardens conjured up my fondest memories to represent at Chelsea.

On sits a geological phenomena, The ; monumental granite slabs stacked progressively larger, their impossibility of structure appears as if they will topple at any moment. I have used this subject matter to design the pavilion with an oversized glass roof of precariously placed and slab-like louvres to add depth. To further authenticate the Cornish theme, I managed to persuade the last working granite quarry in Cornwall to supply the genuine article.

Watching the tiny rivulets etched in the sand (photo: Mischa Haller)

During a visit to the beach, I was mesmerised by the tiny rivulets etched in the sand at low tide and have worked up a watery idea with water wizard Andrew Ewing involving sinuous etches in the granite to create a three-channelled rivulet path. A giant rock pool acts as a destination to the rivulets, but for Chelsea purposes, it will be a natural swimming rock pool. I can imagine the judges donning their swimsuits to properly test it out on press day.

As a child I was sometimes dragged, kicking and screaming, off the beach to look at gardens. Reward was gained by clambering amongst the rhododendrons and bamboo, pretending to be an explorer and also....oh yes, a career in horticulture.

So I have spent most of last summer travelling around Europe bagging rhodos and rhodo-friendly associates for the garden. I've got some fantastic Cornus controversa and kousa, wonderful Rhododendron yakushimanum and Viburnum plicatum. In the bamboo department I have got Indocalamus tessellatus and Semiarundinaria fastuosa. My main trees are Pinus sylvestris, coming in at a whopping seven metres in height and will tower majestically over the planting.

On the beach in Cornwall (before being dragged off kicking and screaming to visit a garden)

But last August things went wrong big time. Like a fool, I always assumed I was doing Chelsea Flower Show - far from it; Chelsea was oversubscribed and the RHS had to pick just 17 show gardens from twice as many applications. What followed was four months of sleepless nights: I had spent a third of my sponsorship money on plants, handed out deposits left right and centre, signed agreements and contracts - and yet, there was a real possibility that I might not be going to Chelsea.

On 16th November I got the call from Chelsea show manager Alex Denman. Our design had been accepted and we had been allocated a prime spot at the top of Main Avenue. It was all systems go and I enjoyed the first good's night sleep for months. Probably shouldn't get too used to it though.

's debut at Chelsea in 2008 resulted in a gold medal, followed by a Silver medal in 2009 and silver Gilt in 2010. Follow the ups and downs of the creation of his most ambitious Chelsea Show Garden to date on this blog in the coming weeks.

You can also .