This year garden in the marquee has been designed by Paul Welford and constructed by Thistlefield. Three separate gardens have been constructed to simulate a terraced row of houses and to show how in a relatively small space, you can still have a front garden and room for a motor vehicle.

Today, as the number of vehicles on our roads increases year on year, so does the need for a space to park them. As a result, many front gardens are being paved over to provide a parking area. As well as looking less visually appealing, it also causes a number of issues, not only for our existing infrastructure, but environmentally and for wildlife. Gardens can soak up rain, unlike paving and concrete, which are less porous, therefore increasing the amount of rainwater run-off. The additional water usually flows into the drains, which can’t always cope and in turn can cause flooding. The loss of foliage and flowers, means loss of habitat for many insects, birds and mammals such as hedgehogs.

 The space in the marquee has been divided up equally, creating three gardens. In the first garden most of the hard landscaping is with shingle which allows permeability, for rainwater to soak into the ground. The carport roof has a living sedum roof which soaks up some of the rainfall, but also replaces the area that has been lost to shingle, creating additional habitat for wildlife. The second garden has a car turntable, therefore reducing the area required for parking. By having a turntable, not only does it provide parking for a small car, it allows the majority of the space to be used as a garden, creating room for a lawn and flower border. The final garden has been designed and built for a resident that owns a motorbike. As motorbikes have no reverse gear it is sometimes difficult to turn them round due to there weight. Therefore this garden is based around an oval path which allows the motorbike to be driven in and out of the garden, without the need to turn it round. This still leaves space for a central bed around which the path runs and borders along the front of the garden.