Last days!!!

Team Tatton doing an ace job treating the birch ply

Having a laid back break with a much needed coffee.....

The aggregates arrived and here is an almost finished look minus planting and final touches

Tonight is infused with a special feeling of anticipation, as tomorrow morning the plants finally arrive from Orchard Dene, and we have our last day of real work. The whole project has gone so well we've had several day's of virtually no work except a little watering here, dodging rainstorms there, titivating and idly pushing small stones from one area to an other, all my workers are leaving Friday, and one even went home earlier this week. If this weren't such an important project to me, I might even venture to say I've been a little bored and aching for some activity and excitement... However tomorrow should prove fun, as I think the plants will really bring this design to life, and then for the evening I've booked us into the local posh restaurant for our last supper together...

I also had a quick chat today with the RHS Uber Big Boss Bob Sweet who came to make sure the young designers weren't up to mischief or building unsightly gardens. He dropped a small bombshell, and told me my judgement day wasn't next Tuesday like the rest of the show, but that our medals, and results for the Young Designer Comp would be announced in a great fanfare, on the Wednesday in front of a gaggle of national media coming in the bus load from London. In fact our accolade would be bestowed upon us by the eminent president of the RHS Elizabeth Banks!! Though I appreciate all the attention, I do feel like a rabbit caught in the headlights, it all seems a bit undeserved and all about showmanship and marketing. I also feel awful for the two of us that will be standing like lemons in the spotlight and not getting the award. The media love a bit of high emotion and suspense, but I just hope my nerves hold out...

If there is anything I have learnt from this experience it is
a) People are predominantly incredibly friendly and warm up here, always smiling and ready for a little chin wag or happy to help.The north prides it's self on it's laid back friendliness and quit rightly too!
b) Don't underestimate local knowledge and never be afraid to ask for it. Had I known this at the start of the project I would have found so many sources of ready help, advice and materials. It would all have been much easier than trying to source everything from scratch.

Finally I want to say a big Hi!! to all the Buildbase boys, who I've heard are following my blog, and who wish I'd come to them for my materials.. Maybe next time aye ;)

The Boundary wall is up and most of the wildflower turf, after a mammoth 24 hours driving the largest van available to humanity down south to collect a couple of tons of materials

I hope posting images of progress won't spoil the surprise for people coming to see it, it's all happening so fast that really one can see the end result without having to come to the show! I don't know how it's possible or if it's wrong, but it seems I've over planned this -the boundary took less than 3 hours to erect and the stone wall only 2 days. I had allowed 3 to 4 days for each! It's going so well it's been an absolute pleasure so far, and I've discovered how much I love project managing and being on site making all the important decision and getting stuck in too.We are so far ahead of schedule that in order to have jobs to keep us busy over the next few days until the aggregates and plants are delivered, I've ordered a couple of lie-ins at the bed and Breakfast...Admittedly a much needed lie in, as even if this has gone quickly it has been the result of long hours and days of very hard intense work...

Et voila!!! Result after 5 days grafting

The build so far...

The empty site before mayhem

Ground protection and edging first

The steel tanks arrive causing some general curiosity on site

End of second day clearing up..

Third day, we are now 5 in total, good work force, stone has arrived from Lake District and being graded

Hard to know where to start.. The last four days have been so intense.. So much happening in a very short amount of time, the anticipation, the excitement. Each delivery to site is an event, long awaited, months in the planning but minutes/hours in the execution. My workers are all astounding in their enthusiasm and effort to make this come good. It's as much their project and pride on the line as mine. I could not have hoped for more. My two competitors have plots on either side and both have had some very serious problems, slowing them down. Their designs are heavy in construction and cost, and so any set backs due to the sloping nature of the site or the poor weather and high winds seems hinder them badly. However they are both resourceful and I hope they pull through, as we are all in it together, but it does seem to make my build, and all the fun  and laughter our team are having, cause a little tension.

Oxfam contacted me today, they have a huge worldwide campaign for awareness of water usage, drought, and floods. It comes in time with the hose pipe ban over the whole of the north-west after the worst drought in a decade. They want me to support their cause through my show garden and its marketing potential, as water is an important feature. I'm not sure what this will involve yet, but possibly a photo shoot on the garden.

Tomorrow I am leaving for 24 hours, driving the biggest van I legally can, (huge) to come back to Oxford to collect my boundary wall and wild flower turf. An other intense experience and I'm quite afraid of driving such a large vehicle, with no previous experience, over a few hundred miles. I'm sure it will be fine and a great adventure like the rest of it, but just an other cause for nerves and adrenaline. I must sleep now, the days are long and hard, and I have only just begun.

The Best Laid Plans Of Mice and Men

My 4 water feature tanks. 3 meter is length and of varying height, minimum 100 kilos each seen here before they are powder coated/painted jet black.

No plan is fool-proof and no one can be completely prepared for the future, so the saying goes and quite right too. An other adrenaline charged day in the run up to 'Show Time'. I received photos from my supplier in Manchester who is making my steel water features. The finished product should be sleek black monoliths of water, slicing through what is essentially a pleasant enough, though completely wacky bucolic scene. However on closer inspection I noticed the steel tanks were not made entirely as I had envisaged, a small seemingly insignificant detail, but one that could be the first of many to cost me the elusive gold medal and title of Young Designer of the Year. 

In technical speak, the box section edges, that have been welded to provide support for the steel and prevent bowing under the weight of the water, were placed on the very rim of the tanks and stitch welded. This is something I had specified, however it was supposed to be a structural detail and not visible to the eye, placed somewhere mid way up the tank. In the end due to risks of warping the metal this was changed. The end result is a bulky rim, with discontinuous welding, creating a gap between the box section and the edge of the tank sides. This gap is a glaring fault visible to any discerning eye.

Here if you look (very ) closely you can see the (small)  damning detail and gap between the edges.. small details are so important in this type of exhibit and exactly what the judges pick up on... Precisely why it's such a nightmare for the designer...

Unfortunately with managing a project from so far away, it is impossible to inspect every feature before its completion, and it's too late to rectify this problem as the tanks have already been sent off to be powder coated black. However after a pleasant chat with the steel fabricator we concluded it my be possible to fill the gap with a black poly-filler and then use the touch up paint to merge the two shades of black. I'm sure this is the first of many such 'glitches' and the art is to deal with them as they happen and to 'wing it' on-site. 

A show garden can be planned to the very last detail, but in the end one is entirely reliant on exterior factors, such as unpredictable events, man, and the 4 elements. Only three days to go now, and the adrenaline is relentless in it's onslaught! Roll on Monday!!!