A CALLINGTON community group has won a prestigious Silver Gilt Medal at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park.

The Tatton Park Show, which took place on July 20-24 in Knutsford, Cheshire, is a chance for budding gardeners to showcase their horticultural talents. One of these gardeners is Kenny Raybould, head of horticulture at Merryhue Farm, Callington.

Merryhue Farm is a 124-acre working farm situated within the Tamar Valley that is farmed in an environmentally-conscious way.

Alongside the sustainable farming practices, the farm serves as a care farm and is home to two community interest companies (CICs), Transferable Skills Training which supports young people that struggle in mainstream school and Battling On, supporting veterans and adults with disabilities. The farm is also multi-award winning for its special needs provision and specialist support for the local community.

The ‘Grown That Way’ Jubilee garden at Merryhue Farm was built by special needs individuals and set up as a market garden for the local community to provide support for communities through green spaces.

Opened in February this year by HRH Princess Anne, the community led project aims to educate individuals about sustainable gardening practices with a focus on food, medicinal plants and flowers. The project uses organic and permaculture methods to support sustainable futures and conserve the natural landscape.

To showcase their sustainable practices and horticultural expertise, Kenny Raybould, former head gardener at Covent Garden took the ‘Green for Me’ garden to RHS Tatton Park Show.

The garden was created and designed by Kenny who worked with the volunteers at Merryhue Farm to help them learn new land-based skills and introduce them to the wonderful world of horticulture practices.

The garden was a real success at the show and won both a Silver Gilt Medal and Best Greener Community Border Garden.

The garden showcases carbon sequestration, incorporating bee-friendly plants and eco-friendly grass alternatives.

The vision for the creation was to increase awareness of best gardening practices and teach individuals that their green spaces are opportunities for innovation and climate change mitigation.

Nikki Markham, founding director at Merryhue Farm said: ‘Getting people to think that community spaces can make a real impact on climate change — I think that is the most important thing. It’s about innovation and resilience we need to be thinking about at a community level.’

The ‘Green for Me’ garden will be returning to Merryhue Farm where it will be incorporated into the Jubilee garden. The award-winning garden will be available to visit after the official opening which is taking place in September this year. This will give people the chance to enjoy the garden for months to come.

Nikki hopes that by opening the market garden to the public it will ‘get people thinking about gardening and the environment, whilst showing rural communities how to deal with change in climate’.