The Great Garden Challenge was the largest garden design and build competition ever held in the United Kingdom. The knockout competition was filmed for Channel 4 within the walled garden at Blenheim Palace , Oxfordshire throughout the spring of 2005.

The programme's production team approached Hutchinsons Landscapes late in 2004 and after passing the pre-selection trials we first appeared on the show over the following Easter weekend. With a tight deadline of just under 36 hours and a budget of only £2000, two members of our landscaping team were filmed transforming a 5m x 5m plot of rough grass into “Time Together”.

This eye-catching courtyard garden contained a vibrant display of architectural planting and sculptures set within a pergola surround. Despite the appalling rain that arrived with a vengeance on the final day of the build, the prestigious team of garden experts (headed by Chris Beardshaw), unanimously voted our garden the winner and through to the quarterfinals.

Later in May, the Hutchinsons team returned to Blenheim Palace with the new garden, “Twist and Turn”. Based around a stunning granite and steel water feature, this was a garden built on two levels, linked by a sweeping turf walkway to reflect the twisting theme of the central monolith. For the first time, the visiting public were invited to vote for their favourite garden. We were very proud to learn that over 1000 callers registered a vote and that our garden received around 80% of them. However the show's judges were split in their decision, leaving both gardens on exactly the same score at the end of the live show, in a tense last minute tiebreak Chris Beardshaw cast his deciding vote in favour of the other team.

Whilst disappointed not to proceed further in the competition, we are immensely proud of our gardens and pleased that our designs received such a positive response from the general public, as creating beautiful, practical gardens for our customers will always be our primary aim.

We would like to send out our thanks to all the viewers that voted for us and also to those people that took the time to send the very kind messages of support that flooded into us by both text and e-mail throughout the weeks following the live broadcast.

Future shows and Exhibitions
Following the TV show Hutchinsons were commissioned by a national stone importer to build their display at the international GLEE exhibition at the NEC, ( Britain 's largest show for the professional landscaper). With positive recognition like this, who knows where the future will take us, maybe back to the RHS at Hampton Court – or Chelsea ?

Thanks to our partners

Thanks to our partners

	Time Together Site
	Twist & Turn Site

Votes of Thanks

We would like to thank the following organisations for their support and for the supply of materials for our show gardens:

Time Together Show Garden

Twist and Turn Show Garden