The Warner's Distillery Garden RHS Chelsea Dream Team
The Warner's Distillery Garden RHS Chelsea Dream Team
As you may have seen we are gearing up for another epic week at the Chelsea Flower Show in May. We’re going to be bringing a touch of the Farm to Main Avenue at Chelsea. Drawing inspiration from our home here at Falls Farm and the glorious rural Northamptonshire countryside around us.
Our beautiful garden has been designed by the multi-award winning garden designer Helen Elks-Smith and will be built by the talented and well-respected landscaper Dan Riddleston. Find out a bit more about our dream team below!
Helen Elks-Smith, Elks-Smith Garden Design
One of the UK's leading garden designers, Helen Elks-Smith, has previously won two gold medals and one silver medal from the RHS, two design awards from the SGD (Society of Garden Designers) and two Design Excellence Awards from BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries). A popular public speaker, Helen lectures to both trade and the public gardeners on a variety of topics such as planting design, garden design, front gardens, and how gardens make you feel.
After training in Garden Design at Writtle College, Helen set up her studio in the New Forest, Hampshire in 2005. A lifelong interest and love for landscape informs her work and Helen believes strongly that landscapes and gardens for both period and contemporary properties should have a sense of place, and that a beautiful, well-designed garden can have a hugely positive impact on our well-being. Her projects range from small courtyards to formal gardens and large country gardens.
Her work regularly features in magazines and has also featured in a number of books including Great Garden Design by Ian Hodgson, The New Wild Garden also by Ian Hodgson and How to Make a Wildflower Meadow by James Hewetson-Brown. She is a Registered Member of the Society of Garden Designers.
Dan Riddleston, Bowles & Wyer
Dan Riddleston joined landscape company Bowles & Wyer in 2006 and has been Managing director since the summer of 2017. Dan is one of the UK’s most well-respected figures in the sector and has a background in hard & soft landscape construction, with expertise across many areas including landscape restoration, town and country gardens and commercial projects.
Over the past 25 years Dan has been involved in numerous RHS Chelsea Show gardens where he has won two gold medals, both with designer Darren Hawkes, as well as three silver-gilt and one silver medal. He is also an ambassador for BALI Go Landscape - an education, skills and careers initiative, designed to inform and inspire new recruits into the landscape industry.
Dan’s current client portfolio covers private clients, government bodies and commercial organisations including The Royal Parks, The Crown Estates, The Peabody Trust, Cambridge University and Dulwich College. He has worked with many high-profile garden designers including Andy Sturgeon, Charlotte Rowe, Christopher Bradley Hole, Brita von Schoenaich, Tom Stuart Smith and Luciano Giubbilei.
