Give Me Shelter

An award-winning garden at the Chelsea Flower Show built by a Chiswick company has gone to a good home and raised thousands for charity

The Shelter Garden was constructed by Stephen Quallington and members of his W4-based London Gardens team.

Seen by thousands of visitors to the show, and millions on TV, the show garden supported housing charity Shelter and won a bronze award.

It was centred on a low-cost A-frame structure which could be used for easily constructed homes for the homeless. Designed by Hammersmith’s Philippa O’Brien and Jeff Dutt, it included a living area and tree house.

Auctioned after the show, with proceeds going to Shelter, the garden was bought by the Delta Centre in Carlow, Ireland, which provides specialist services for people with learning disabilities. The centre runs its own garden centre and is developing a multi-sensory garden.

Chiswick resident Stephen, who spent over three weeks building The Shelter Garden and then dismantling it at the end of the RHS event, says: “It was the hardest 24 days of my life, but well worth the effort. We had lots of favourable comments from visitors to Chelsea and I’m pleased it’s now gone to a good home.”

Joint designer Philippa adds: “The main theme of this garden is the family and we wanted planting and a structure within it that they can all enjoy and that inspires the child in all of us.”

May 30, 2003

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