Who doesn’t love Winnie-the-Pooh?

Meadowmat helped Anthea Guthrie win Gold as Best Historic Garden at Hampton Court this year, and the inspiration for her design was the lovable, honey-loving bear, Winnie-the-Pooh.

People will always love Pooh – and so we were thrilled when Anthea asked us to help bring her vision to life. Winnie the Pooh Begins His Journey, co-developed with Bottanica World Discoveries, is an evocative trip down memory lane for anyone who has delighted in Pooh’s misadventures with his menagerie of friends and relations.

So what was Meadowmat’s role in creating this magical experience for children of all ages?

Well, Anthea’s design cleverly evokes both the essential character of the stories themselves and the garden where A.A.Milne took inspiration for the wonderful stories he wrote for his son, Christopher Robin. And key to this is the untamed woodland planting that fills the whole garden, planting that was easy to create using Meadowmat.

The award-winning design presents a wild, untamed cottage garden at the back of which nestles a rustic little chalet. The whole effect is very arts-and-crafts, and you can easily imagine the author writing in his woodland shelter while Christopher Robin explores the natural playground with his favorite teddy bear.

The garden contains some of the most familiar elements from A.A.Milne’s original stories including the famous bridge where Pooh invented his game of Pooh-Sticks. But the centre-piece is a picnic laid out ready for Pooh, Tigger et al, no doubt with plenty of pots of honey!

To create the rampant meadow flower planting we used our Birds n Bees Meadowmat. As well as providing an instant but randomly-ordered carpet of wild flowers of different colours and sizes, this provided an irresistible lure for some delightful insects and butterflies.

Anthea wanted the rustic chalet to appear as if built into the natural environment, as if it was itself growing wild in the garden. Our solution was a new type of roof-meadow mix (which will be available from early next year). Instead of looking like a neatly trimmed roof-lawn this added just the right overgrown look we wanted – nature’s own planting scheme beautifully adorning the chalet’s wobbly structure.

Anthea’s garden design transports the visitor to another place and another time – but it also brings to life the very essence of the timeless stories of Pooh. And it just goes to show that if you want to create a garden area to inspire creative thoughts and happy memories, sometimes it’s the wilder, more natural look that really hits the spot.

You can see some beautiful photos here (and look carefully to see how many characters from the stories you can spot) – and we guarantee they will evoke delicious memories of the tales of Pooh and his enchanting childhood make-believe life.

[link to go in above paragraph]  https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-hampton-court-palace-flower-show/exhibitors/2015/gardens/botanica-world-discoveries-winnie-the-pooh-begins

Meadowmat’s sister companies, Q Lawns and Enviromat, also feature in this year’s award-winning entries at Hampton Court, with a Silver-Gilt in the show garden category and another Sliver-Gilt for a special garden for retired people, as well as themselves being awarded 3 stars as a first-time trade exhibitor.

Maybe you feel inspired to include some wonderful wild flower meadow in your own garden? Well, its really easy! Find out more here.

[link for above paragraph: http://www.meadowmat.com/how-to-lay-wildflower-turf ]