"Jihae Hwang’s Quiet Time, the wilderness garden inspired by the Korean  
Demilitarised Zone, is one of the most moving gardens I can recall at   
Chelsea. The attention to detail — the dry well, with its mossy rocks, tree  
roots, leaf litter and little tree seedlings, and rusting army oil can — is  
spellbinding. I have lost count of the number of people who have told me it   is
their favourite garden. "

The whole article can be found here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/chelseaflowershow/9287785/Chelsea-Flower-Show-2012-the-best-bits.html

Also here is a great article by the BBC about the DMZ garden and also a profile of Jihae.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18197920

Great article in this week's North Devon Gazette...

http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/braunton_masons_help_win_gold_at_chelsea_1_1385111

So... as the title suggests... against all the odds... it's another Gold! 

This is Rebekah, updating the Rural Stonework blog on Steve's behalf, so I'll leave it for him to fill you in on all the details when he gets a spare moment.  We just wanted to keep everyone up-to-date, and share the good news!  All involved are ecstatic, as you can imagine. It must have been quite something to have been there, when the results were given out...

I know everyone at home here in Devon, is very proud of Steve and the team.  So much blood, sweat and tears has gone into this project, and it's great to see them get the results they deserve! 

Signing off for now... Going to try and catch all the coverage on the T.V & enjoy a glass of fizz...  Rebekah :-)

Finally, the Rural Stonework team (of two!) have returned from the Chelsea Flower Show build-up, after weeks of hard work, not only building the garden, but also gathering and packaging the stone.   

In similar circumstances to last year, the preparation for this project, was more demanding than the actual build itself - bearing in mind that we had to transport the stone from Dartmoor to London, whilst keeping it in pristine condition, with live moss, lichen and other plant life protected and intact upon arrival.

All involved with the garden have done an amazing job, in less than perfect circumstances.  At one point, the entire project was hanging in the balance due to sponsorship issues.  Fortunately, Dan Flynn, from Gardenlink, stepped up to act as a guarantor for the build, and the project was back on track.  However, due to the change in circumstances, the number of employed tradesman had to be minimised (including the Rural Stonework team), and a host of willing volunteers were drafted in by Dan.  Although there was only Cameron and myself on site to do the stonework, Ben Davies deserves a special mention for his tireless efforts in gathering and delivering additional materials to London, in difficult conditions. 

Just this week, there were also issues with the importation of the rare Korean plants, essential to the concept.  Thankfully, these should now be in the soil by the weekend.

So fingers crossed for Sunday, when the judging takes place.  Keep an eye out for the results on Tuesday by checking this blog in the morning!


Below is a outline of the garden concept, as published on the RHS website, in case you haven't seen it.

We're almost finished. Just the bottom section of the stream to finish tomorrow morning, then Rebekah, Lola,  Sarah and Erin are coming up to stay in London for a couple of nights. We haven't seen them for 10 days!!


Below are various pictures from the last few days. The garden is looking fantastic, Cameron and I are really pleased with the work we've done and it's been great to get involved with all sorts of jobs. 

We spent the last 2 days building the stream and cascade and it seemed to work really well first time. Usually water features take a bit of tweaking, but the stone and stream gravel we got from Davids farm looks great. Many thanks again David!! Will post finished pictures of the stream in a couple of days.

Sunday was a day off for most people. Cameron and I popped in for a couple of hours then sampled a few London pubs!. Today was a big day with most of the bunker built. Here are some photos, they tell a better story.

Day 4 and the garden looks very different. The barbed wire fence is almost finished and we've made a good start on the bunker. I managed to get some good photos as the sun came out this afternoon, for the first time since we got up here.

Day 3.
The watchtower is pretty much completed with all of the large trees up. Tomorrow morning we start the stonework inside the gun turret bunker.

Tomo hiding behind a tree

Jihae in front of our 60 year old wall!

Cameron and myself are back at Chelsea to start building the DMZ garden designed by Jihae Hwang. Dan Flynn of Gardenlink is project managing, and building, this thought provoking concept after recent sponsorship issues. Well done Dan, lets prove that a show garden at Chelsea doesn't have to have a huge budget. This is our third day, so here are a few progress photos.

Day 2.
Cameron on the move with Tomo and Jihae in the background.

An old, old wall - with a B & Q shed behind it.

Ben and I spent the best part of last week gathering about 20 ton of stone and organic material from a stream up on Dartmoor. Thanks again David for letting us pilfer your beautifully aged stone. Here are pictures of us in the fine English spring!