by Holly Chapman | 16 Jul 25 | Garden Design, News
RHS Flower Show Wentworth Woodhouse has kicked off this week with a display of Show Gardens, Young Designer Gardens, Long Borders and Feature Gardens.
For the first time, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has hosted an event at Wentworth Woodhouse, a country estate located in south Yorkshire, moving away from the show’s previous home at Tatton Park.
The judges have given out three Gold medals, which are as follows:
Show Gardens
RNIB Legacy Garden
Sponsored by the charity, the RNIB Legacy Garden explores living with sight loss. Designed by Paul Hervey-Brookes, the garden was supported by Players of People’s Postcode Lottery and built by G K Wilson Landscape Consultant. It has also been awarded Best Show Garden and Best Construction in a Show Garden.
RNIB Legacy Garden. Credit: RHS/Neil Hepworth
Hazelwood Barn – Reimagined by Bestall & Co
Designed by Lee Bestall, the Hazelwood Barn illustrates how a small space can be transformed into a sustainable and beautiful garden. Sponsored by Bestall & Co Landscape Design, the garden features a reclaimed bathtub water feature. The garden has also been awarded with the RHS Environmental Innovation Award.
Hazelwood Barn – Reimagined by Bestall & Co. Credit: RHS/Neil Hepworth
Young Designer Gardens
Drakkars Drift
Drawing inspiration from the basalt columns of Fingal’s Cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, garden designer Luke Coleman’s interest was sparked during a visit in 2023. The garden was built by Ampersand Ltd, sponsored by Edinburgh City Council and Edinburgh Nature Network. As well as Coleman being named Young Designer of the Year 2025, the garden has also been awarded Best Construction in a Young Designer Garden.
Drakkars Drift. Credit: RHS/Josh Kemp-Smith
A Silver-gilt medal was awarded to The Dune Garden, designed by Young Designer Jacopo Ducato Ruggeri, based on queer refuge, Fire Island in New York.
Garden Whispers, designed by Hyeyoung Choi and Yungil Choi, intends to offer guests a sense of tranquillity and was also awarded with a Silver-gilt medal.
The Greenfingers Charity Together Garden, designed by Phil Hurst and Jo Charlton and A Potted History: Echoes of Rockingham, designed by Young Designer Sam Dryell, were both awarded with a Silver-gilt medal.
The Macmillan Legacy of a Lifetime Garden, designed by Pandora Ryan was the only garden to receive a Silver medal.
As the week continues, the People’s Choice Award is open now for voting to encourage visitors to vote for their favourite garden.
by Holly Chapman | 26 Jun 25 | Garden Design, Long Reads
With the Royal Horticultural Society Flower Show Wentworth Woodhouse fast approaching, meet the three debut designers coming to the show and competing to be named RHS Young Designer of the Year.
RHS Wentworth Woodhouse is an event tailored for young designers and contractors under 30 years old as a means to kickstart their career.
Sam Dryell
Sam Dryell
Sam Dryell completed his undergraduate degree at University of Sheffield in architecture and landscape architecture in 2022. Returning to Sheffield to extend his landscape architecture knowledge, Dryell is half way through his two year Master’s degree, expected to finish in 2026.
A Potted History: Echoes of Rockingham is a garden inviting visitors into a living gallery reflecting the history of Rockingham Pottery. Built by Topoforma Landscape, the garden features a seating space, a water feature and a contemporary reimagining of the grand doorway to the Camellia House at Wentworth Woodhouse.
With winding pathways and vibrant planting, the garden encourages visitors to experience history that is everlasting and blooming.
The garden will be relocated to Rotherham Museums, Arts and Heritage where it will be distributed to community groups across Rotherdam’s urban parks.
“As the show approaches, I’m filled with a real sense of anticipation and excitement. Over the past six months, there has been an incredible amount of dedication, creativity, and collaboration from so many talented individuals to help bring this garden to life. It’s been a rewarding journey, and I’m truly looking forward to sharing the finished garden with the public.”
A Potted History; Echoes of Rockingham, designed by Sam Dryell. Credit: RHS
Jacopo Ducato Ruggeri
Jacopo Ducato Ruggeri
Italian-born Jacopo Ducato Ruggeri is trained as an architect, making RHS Wentworth Woodhouse his first ever garden design. Currently living in Switzerland, Ruggeri travels to the UK increasingly often for numerous RHS shows.
Currently working as an architect at ahaa in Switzerland, Ruggeri is both “excited” and “terrified” for his garden design debut.
The Dune Garden is inspired by Ruggeri’s visit to Fire Island, New York in 2023. A place for queer refuge, its historic impacts on LGBTQ+ communities include creating a sense of liberation for gay men and lesbian women specifically.
The garden intends to reflect the island’s crude erotism using the relationship between the bench and a shower, similar to watching a bathing nymph. Ruggeri has selected plants with the same genus or with similar ecological adaptations that can perform the same roles in the UK.
The bespoke furniture in the garden has been made by Brandon Thatchers.
Young Designer of the Year 2024, Ashley Aylett‘s naturalistic style within her The Woodland Trust: 49% Garden also inspired the garden. Similarly, the garden will also be constructed by Evergreen Cheshire Ltd.
“I’m terrified. There’s a lot that has to come together during the build. I want to spark a conversation with the work of horticulture. It’s been a learning curve.”
The Dune Garden, designed by Jacopo Ducato Ruggeri. Credit: RHS
Luke Coleman
Luke Coleman
Luke Coleman has been designing gardens since 2017 after founding his first soft-landscaping company based in Woking, Surrey. Since then, he has earnt a higher national diploma in garden and landscape design at the Eden Project, as well as completing a degree in garden and landscape design with horticulture at Scotland’s Rural College, University of Edinburgh
Now based at his design studio in Edinburgh, he has contributed to RHS gardens such as Tom Massey’s Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court 2023, and the Gold medal winning WaterAid Garden at RHS Chelsea 2024.
Drakkars Drift draws inspiration from the basalt columns of Fingal’s Cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa. The garden celebrates Scotland’s historic ties with Scandinavia while blending Nordic wellness traditions with highland elements. ‘Drakker’ refers to Viking ships with a dragon head front, linking to the arrival of Vikings in the northern Scottish isles over a thousand years ago.
Built by Ampersand Ltd, the garden features a floating wooden boardwalk, heartwood sauna, plunge pool and firepit.
“I’d say I’m feeling equally excited and nervous, but really enjoying the whole process because otherwise, what’s the point? It’s a real privilege to be working with such a generous team of people who’ve been incredibly supportive. Since I started studying garden design, creating an RHS show garden has always been a dream, so to actually be doing it now feels like a real pinch-me moment. I’m just hugely grateful for the opportunity.”
Drakkars Drift, designed by Luke Coleman. Credit: RHS
The upcoming show will take place 16 – 20 July, as the three young designers compete for this year’s Young Designer of the Year title.
by Bethany Vann | 04 Jun 25 | Garden Design, News
Taking place in Yorkshire, the first ever gardens for the new RHS Flower Show Wentworth Woodhouse have been revealed; exploring themes of wellbeing, sustainability, and the beauty of gardening.
After celebrating 25 years of RHS Flower Show Tatton Park last year, it was announced that the flower show would be hitting the road, starting at Wentworth Woodhouse in Sheffield instead, followed by the Sandringham Estate; not returning to Tatton Park for three years.
This year the show looks to capture the local area’s roots, drawing on Yorkshire’s rich history and spotlighting Northern talent.
Feature Gardens
One of the show’s first Feature Gardens, RHS Teenager Dirt Park, designed by Rachel Platt creates a planted green space inspired by the young people of BMX Rotherham, part of Rotherham’s Children’s Capital of Culture 2025.
Designed with sustainability and functionality in mind, the community garden boosts a central structure of dirt tracks for rollers.
Platt, who is a Pro Landscaper 30 Under 30: The Generation alumni, earned a hat-trick of awards at the 2023 RHS Tatton Park show, with her garden J. Parker’s Chained to Tech, which was relocated to the Manchester Metropolitan University last year.
RHS Teenage Dirt Park, designed by Rachel Platt © RHS
Designed by Chris Myers, the RHS Miner’s Garden looks to honour the history of the Fitzwilliam family ownership of the Wentworth Woodhouse estate.
With allotment style planting to represent edible gardening and old-fashioned cut flower varieties and bedding plants to immerse visitors in a time since passed.
While Matt Biggins and Richard Hill’s RHS Work With Your Garden explores planting archetypes and sports an unorthodox planting style, with the designers opting to choose plants dependent on local nursery availability.
West Yorkshire’s rhubarb industry will be brought to life in the RHS Rhubarb by Candlelight installation by Jordan Lister, transporting visitors into Rhubarb Triangle Forcing Sheds where perennial planting will be illuminated by candlelight.
Show Gardens
Show Gardens at the event will include an array of designs dedicated to charitable causes, from The Greenfingers Charity Together Garden by Phil Hirst and Jo Charlton, to The Macmillan Legacy of a Lifetime Garden by Pandora Ryan, and An RNIB Legacy Garden by Paul Hervey-Brooks.
At home gardening will also take centre stage in the Show Garden category, with Urban Pollinators by Richard Browning, and Hazlewood Barn | Reimagined by Bestall & Co by Lee Bestall.
While Hyeyoung Choi and Yungil Choi’s Garden Whispers looks to blur the line between nature, art, and architecture.
Young Designer Gardens
The Young Designer Gardens category also returns, with three designers making their debut to the world of show gardens: Drakkars Drift by Luke Coleman, The Dune Garden by Jacopo Ducato Ruggeri, and A Potted History: Echoes of Rockingham by Sam Dryell
Last year’s Young Designer of the Year was awarded to Ashleigh Aylett – another Pro Landscaper 30 Under 30 alumni – for her The Woodland Trust: 49% Garden.
RHS Flower Show Wentworth Woodhouse runs from 16 -20 July 2025 and tickets are available online at rhs.org.uk/wentworth.
