Kentish Express Ashford & District
Garden designer turns coal into gold at show
Comedy hero
Pictures by Ian West Just over 25 years ago former KM Group journalist Beth Williams, nee Mullins, was reporting on the closure of Kent’s last working coal mine, the Betteshanger Colliery.
A quarter of a century on and the journalist-turned-garden designer, who lives in Hastingleigh, near Wye, joined fellow Hadlow College graduate Stuart Charles Towner to build a show garden at the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Hampton Court Palace Flower Show to celebrate east Kent’s mining history.
The architecturally strong garden, complete with miner’s lift, walls made from Kent shale and planting to echo how nature recolonises, was deemed so exceptional the judges named it Best Show Garden and gave it the coveted RHS gold medal.
The Green Seam garden tells a poignant story of the pit’s closure, its wilderness years and how the community is looking to the future as Hadlow College embarks on a multimillion pound project to create a sustainable education and business park on the site, with construction due to start next month.
Delighted Beth, 46, who grew up in Whitstable and works part-time at Ripple Farm Organics in Crundale, near Ashford, said she felt under huge pressure to create a fitting tribute to the miners.
She said: “It was a huge responsibility to get this garden right. I witnessed the demise of the mining community so it has been fantastic to see the miners’ response to the garden. Today has been very emotional.”
Former miners who assisted Beth and Stuart with their design were at the show on Monday and Garry Cox, who now lives in Deal, was moved to tears by the garden.
He said: “Mention miners and people only remember bad times, pickets and fighting with the police – we were much more than that. Now we can look to the future and our communities will survive. This garden is not just for Kent min- ers but for miners all over the country. I can’t stop the tears.”
Stuart, who won a silvergilt medal at RHS Hampton Court last year, said: “Beth and I have shared every part of the work on this garden and we are thrilled about what we have achieved. We wanted to represent the real people, the miners, so the past is not forgotten.” On top of winning the two prizes, Beth and Stuart also welcomed a celebrity visitor to their garden.
Comedian Jo Brand was visiting Hampton Court on Monday and Beth decided it was too good an opportunity to miss.
Beth said: “Jo Brand came to look at the garden after I accosted her and asked if she would like to have a look at our slag heap! She said: ‘How could I resist?’ She was lovely and very funny and very interested in the garden as she grew up in Kent, in Benenden. It was brilliant to meet one of my comedy heroes the same day as winning a gold and Best in Show for my first ever show garden!”
Beth and Stuart’s tutor Caroline Jackson said of their design: “They have done a brilliant job.”
The Green Seam garden will be taken down after the show and recreated at the £40m Betteshanger Sustainable Park, near Deal.