Gold medal and Garden of the Year for CPRE Garden

The Monday night interviews on BBC, featuring Sarah Eberle (the most decorated garden designer in RHS Chelsea history) and Roger Mortlock (CPRE CEO), made the case for the importance of the countryside. CPRE’s On the Edge campaign has reached millions of people across the country and beyond, calling for every town and city to be surrounded by protected countryside for nature, climate and wellbeing.

On the Edge shines a light on the overlooked countryside on the edges of our towns and cities -places that connect millions of people to nature in everyday life, yet remain under constant pressure from development and neglect.

Add your name to support protected green space around every town and city

A ‘powerful message’

Created with support from Project Giving Back, On the Edge transforms a neglected urban fringe landscape into a place of abundance, sanctuary and repair. At its heart stands Gaia — a guardian figure carved from a fallen mature tree by chainsaw artist Chris Wood — surrounded by nearly 3,000 plants woven through a snaking dry-stone wall and flowing willow structures.

The awards recognise not only the garden’s powerful message and planting, but also the extraordinary craftsmanship behind its construction. The garden brings together an exceptional team of makers and builders, including willow artist Tom Hare, fifth-generation dry-stone wallers Lydia Noble and Cuthbert Noble, landscape contractors The Outdoor Room and Specialised Metal Fabrications.

After RHS Chelsea, the garden will be relocated to Park Hill in Sheffield, where it will become a permanent community green space – continuing CPRE’s long legacy of campaigning to protect the countryside around towns and cities.