Down Dale: a piece of Yorkshire blooms in London
Queen sees county recreated in Chelsea... but Titchmarsh warns children ‘aren’t allowed to get dirty’
NOT EVEN Len Hutton and Titus Salt, brought back to life and transplanted in southwest London, could have made the scene yesterday any more typically Yorkshire.
A brass band, a Wensleydale sheep and a dry stone wall had captured what the tourist people called the “essence” of the county as the Queen picked her way along the cobbles and through the forest of foliage that had disguised a small corner of Chelsea.
It was a display as distinctively British as the one she had witnessed in Windsor on Saturday, and, in its way, just as impressive.
The Welcome to Yorkshire garden at the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) flagship event has become an annual staple, and a fixed point on the Royal tour, which also took in a woodland plot that had recreated the ancient Chinese city of Wuhan, on the banks of the Yangtze River.
Established in 1913, the show has become one of the world’s biggest showcases for horticulture, attracting exhibitors and some 168,000 visitors from across the globe.
This year’s event celebrates 70 years of the National Health Service and has been designed to show off the positive impact of horticulture on mental health.
The Queen, who is president of the RHS, was accompanied by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra as she toured the showground.
The Yorkshire garden had been designed by the locally born landscape gardener Mark Gregory, whose 30th Chelsea show this is.
He said his design, which also included a demonstration of Wensleydale cheese-making by staff at the creamery in Hawes, had been inspired by the unique landscape of the Dales.
“I feel as if I’ve been conducting a fantastic orchestra,” he said. “I hope I’ve done my beloved Yorkshire proud and that visitors to Chelsea will love seeing it as much as I’ve loved creating it.”
The orchestra was no dream – members of the City of Bradford Brass Band were on hand, resplendent in floral waistcoats.
But Alan Titchmarsh, perhaps Yorkshire’s best-known gardener, stuck a more down-to-earth note, warning that parents were doing their children a disservice by not letting them develop green fingers of their own.
Mr Titchmarsh, a grandfather of four from Ilkley, who is vicepresident of the RHS, added: “Don’t force them into gardening, but for God’s sake connect them with the outdoors, get them away from these (screens) for a few hours. Children need to have fun, a spark in their eyes.
“I grew up in a different age; we played out all day, came back in the evening, or for tea, at 5pm.
“Blow all this mindfulness – get out there and get mucky.”
Mr Titchmarsh described his grandchildren as “outdoor kids”. “They love collecting eggs and feeding fish in a big pond and all that kind of thing, which is wonderful,” he said.
The day at Chelsea had begun improbably with the British rap musician Professor Green opening the RHS Feel Good Garden, which promotes gardening for health. The singer, real name Stephen Manderson, said: “I know only too well how hard and hopeless it can feel when you suffer from anxiety and depression. If being out in a garden helps people feel better or takes their mind off their worries, that has to be a good thing.”
Blow all this mindfulness... get out there and get mucky. Alan Titchmarsh.