Designer Gardens 2026
The Western Daily Press Cup is awarded for the best garden. The gardens are judged for medals, and there is a People’s Choice Award. The Cup and medals will be presented at the Designer Garden area at 1030 on Friday. The People’s Choice winner will be announced at the Designer Garden area at 1500 on Saturday.
Judges: Lady Rosemary FitzGerald, Charlotte Fellingham & Chris Hull
The designers created these gardens especially for us. The gardens are built in the few days leading up to the show and are dismantled on Saturday after the visitors leave. The gardens are designed to show you how much can be achieved in a small space. Please come and talk to the designers who will be very pleased to tell you about their designs.
THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE
You, the visiting public, will be able to vote for your favourite garden. Voting slips will be available at the gardens. Please take part and see how you measure up against our Judges!
Alfie Isaacs: The Outdoor Living Garden
Alfie’s Landscapes,
Victoria House,
Victoria St,
TAUNTON
TA1 3FA,
07733070149,
info@alfieslandscapes.com
www.alfieslandscapegardening.co.uk
Sponsors
TBC
Celebrating the growing desire for adaptable, nature‑connected spaces that extend the home outdoors the garden is a multifunctional retreat blending relaxation, socialising and ecological value. Sheltered seating forms the heart of the garden all year, while connecting to planting and natural light.
Textures, materials and planting evoke calm, encourage biodiversity, and demonstrate how contemporary outdoor living can be stylish and sustainable. Structural planting provides privacy and enclosure, with layered perennials and shrubs creating movement, colour and seasonal interest.
The design showcases how even modest spaces can support wellbeing, outdoor dining, and everyday escape. It aims to inspire visitors to reimagine their own outdoor environments as functional, beautiful extensions of modern life.
Angela Speed and Emily Fuller: The Modern Hearth
Angela Speed and Emily Fuller @ Tony Benger Landscaping Design and Build,
Dalwood Hill Nursery,
Dalwood
AXMINSTER
EX13 7ES,
01404515918
01404515920,
design@tonybenger.com
www.tonybenger.com
Sponsors
This garden explores the evolution of the traditional fireplace, presenting an outdoor kitchen as the modern hearth – a welcoming centre where cooking, gathering, and the garden come together. Organised around two circular spaces – one centred on an outdoor kitchen with a ceramic BBQ egg, the other offering informal seating centred on a hidden firepit.
Natural materials provide strength and texture while herbs, edible plants and layered planting soften the structure and create shelter and seasonal interest. The garden demonstrates how even smaller spaces can be practical, meaningful places for family life, wellbeing and connection through every season.
Gill Vegus: The Birds and the Bees Garden
Chard Plant & Garden Centre Ltd,
Cuttifords Door
CHARD
TA20 3AA
0146063088
07885513244
gill@chardgc.com
https://www.chardgc.com/
Sponsors
TBC
Inspired by the RSPB, the garden is a peaceful wildlife sanctuary, blending beauty with biodiversity. Drifts of late summer plantings bring warmth and movement, while providing essential nectar for bees and seed heads for birds well into autumn and winter.
The pond provides a haven for frogs and aquatic life, encouraging a balanced ecosystem. Sustainability and personal history are woven together, as reclaimed materials sit alongside heirlooms from the designer’s mother, whose statues and Cornish granite mushroom bring a sense of memory, permanence and quiet storytelling to the garden.
Sally Leaney: ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ Pooh Bear…
Sally Leaney Garden Design,
Heale Farm,
Corfe,
TAUNTON
TA3 7BE
01823421645
07592545472
sallyleaney9@gmail.com
Sponsors
TBC
Celebrating the 100th birthday of Winnie-the-Pooh the visitor is invited through an old gate at the edge of the forest, along a woodland path through shady planting and under timber arches to an area where Christopher Robin has prepared a picnic for Pooh Bear and his friends.
The planting compliments the shady and sunnier areas, and includes bee loving plants and an understory of fallen timber and logs. A bee hive nestles nearby. The garden offers a sense of calm and a feeling we are looking into another world……this special little bear has taught us the value of friendship, kindness and the joys of life’s simplest moments.
