A clear-cut winner!
Curvy lawn ‘inspired by a woman’s body’ takes £5k prize
YOU could hardly find a better example of a neatly manicured lawn than in the gorgeous, flower-filled garden surrounding Ade and Jo Ambler’s rural retreat in Lincolnshire. The curvaceous, emerald sward looks as if it has been trimmed with a laser cutting device, and is completely free of moss and weeds.
‘We’re really proud of our lawn – it’s lavished with lots of care and attention, but it’s all worthwhile as it sets off the rest of the garden perfectly,’ says Ade, describing the plot behind the couple’s Victorian cottage in Bishop Norton, Lincolnshire.
Ade’s lawn-care programme requires great dedication. To keep it in tip-top condition, he spends between 30 minutes and an hour a day caring for it, and mows it every day to ensure it has perfect stripes.
During the growing season he feeds it every six weeks, and he scarifies and aerates the lawn in spring and autumn.
His hard work has not gone unnoticed. The 45-year-old has just triumphed to become the winner of The Mail on Sunday’s Britain’s Best Lawn 2015 competition.
Despite having a stunning lawn today, the plot Ade and Jo, 47, took on in 2006 was a neglected eyesore. ‘It was little more than a patch of earth dotted with overgrown shrubs,’ recalls Ade, a property developer. ‘There was some grass but it was patchy and full of weeds.’
His plan was to completely overhaul the space. The unkempt shrubs were either pruned or removed, and the tired grass was stripped off and replaced with fresh turf.
When designing the space, Ade was keen to maintain an informal design, with no straight lines. As a result, his new l awn was based on the ‘hourglass curves of a lady’s body’. Fast-forward nine years, and the immaculate swathe of green winds its way from a patio at the back of the house, past a pond stocked with koi carp and beds planted with shrubs, perennials and architectural specimens, such as a tree ferns, Gunnera manicata and Chusan palm.
It makes the ideal centrepiece for Ade and Jo’s garden. The wellgroomed sward sets off plants, patio and other features beautifully, and it also makes the ideal place to kick back and relax in summer.
I’ve seen many similar-size lawns that are mowed to leave a vertical stripe pattern. However, Ade has bucked the trend by finishing his lawn with horizontal stripes. This is clever. Not only do the stripes help to move the eye from one side of the garden to the other, but they create the illusion of the space being wider than it actually is.
To clinch top spot in the competition, run by lawnmower engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton in conjunction with The Mail on Sunday, Ade’s lawn had to go headto-head with scores of others, inclu- ding a lawn shaped like Eric Clapton’s guitar and one separated from rolling countryside by only a ha-ha. ‘This was the toughest competition to judge yet, with some truly fantastic lawns to choose from,’ said Ian Small, sales and marketing manager of Briggs & Stratton UK, who have sponsored the annual contests for a decade.
‘The judges, however, were unanimous in their decision that Ade displayed real passion and dedication and that his lawn was both pristinely cared for and beautiful to look at.’
APART from winning £5,000 – which will go towards a future project for the house or garden – Ade also bagged a new Atco Clipper 20 lawnmower worth £1,000, powered by a Briggs & Stratton engine. As it has front and rear rollers, Ade says it will give him better stripes than his current machine.
Ade’s other prizes include advice from lawn expert Martin Fish, a Keter patiobox, a selection of Wolf Garten tools and the entire collection of the Expert Books by Dr Hessayon, worth £450, along with a year’s subscription to The Mail on Sunday.
This was the first time Ade has entered the competition, and because he doesn’t want to spoil what he has achieved on his first attempt, it will be his last. ‘I’ll never enter again,’ he said. ‘I’ve won Britain’s Best Lawn 2015 and that will always stay with me.’