Long Rake Spar were delighted to support two of their valued customers, Addagrip and SureSet at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Flower Show.
Addagrip were involved in both the RHS Kitchen Garden designed by RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winner Juliet Sargeant as well as the Journey of Life Garden designed by Edward Mairis, while SureSet were instrumental in the creation of On the edge, The Centre for Medical Health Garden designed by Frederic Whyte.
All three gardens featured resin bound surfacing for which Long Rake Spar donated their natural aggregates that are perfect for use within this resin system. They visited the Flower show to see how the aggregates had been utilised within the gardens and were incredibly impressed with the results.
The RHS Kitchen Garden was designed to inspire visitors to grow food at home and in the community, no matter how small the space so was packed full of edible plants and ideas for growing in containers. It perfectly demonstrated that a vegetable garden can be beautiful, stylish and contemporary.
The aggregates donated by Long Rake went into Addagrip’s BBA approved Addaset Resin Bound porous surfacing for the seating and cooking area in the garden itself and for the connecting walkway to the RHS Hub. An Addaset 3mm Lucerne Silver aggregate blend was used in the garden to complement the striking colours of the planting and Addaset Maple Gold blend was selected to create an attractive bright connecting walkway.
The RHS and BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen teamed up to broadcast live from the RHS Kitchen Garden on Saturday 8th July so it was essential that the surface was smooth so that it could be easily trafficked by the television cameras as well as aesthetically pleasing, resilient to the volumes of expected foot traffic during the show and suitable for wheelchair users.
Addagrip’s Resin Bound Terrabase Rustic surfacing was used in the bronze medal winning Journey of Life Garden, built by Xardin Gardens. The garden is designed to connect with the heart like a poem and to reflect each visitor’s own unique journey through life.
Based on the classical Asian garden, the garden uses Addagrip’s resin bound surfacing to draw you from the past and lead you to the present. It is minimalistic in style with its contrasting brightly coloured rainbow Perspex wall representing the boundless future and providing a backdrop to structural planting, natural aggregate paving and an island seating area.
Addagrip were approached to provide a natural looking surface that would be hard wearing but aesthetically sympathetic to the design. They chose to donate their Terrabase Rustic Resin Bound system that use Long Rake aggregates, in a stunning Rustic Gold natural aggregate blend.
The On the edge, The Centre for Medical Health Garden tells the tale of a journey from mental ill-health to acceptance. SureSet were contacted to create an aesthetically pleasing, smooth winding narrow path that cuts through the spiky planting scheme to create a physical evocation of the journey people take to manage their condition.
The garden is entered via the narrow path which was created using SureSet’s spectacular Natural Aggregate Norwegian Pearl that feature specialist aggregates from Long Rake Spar. The path is a focal point to the garden that was required to look natural to complement the planting scheme it winds its way through and leads the visitor towards an uncomfortably steep staircase into a shady and disorienting space.
Finally the path leads the visitor to an increasingly broad, open staircase that leads down into a therapeutic space beside a reflective pool.
Designer Frederic Whyte drew on his own background to create the design and commented, “It’s been a cathartic experience building this garden.”
Contractors: Addagrip
Contractors: SureSet