Gardener’s World presenter to design accessible garden for Scolton Manor

PRESS RELEASE: Gardener’s World presenter to design accessible garden for Scolton Manor

The Norman Industries team at Scolton Manor in Haverfordwest is helping Gardener’s World presenter Sue Kent to make her first ‘show garden’ at Hampton Court Flower Show.

The event, which is taking place between 4 – 9 July 2022, will showcase Sue’s design for a garden that enable people with disabilities to work in and enjoy a garden.

In return for the help, Sue has agreed that after the show the garden will come back to Pembrokeshire and be located long-term at Scolton Manor Park.

The garden will be developed to cater for a wider range of disabilities over the next year, and will be looked after by a team of disabled people supported by Norman Industries. Visitors will be able to see it in place at Scolton Manor from September.

The staff at Norman Industries have been working with Sue to design and create key elements of her garden. Progress made was highlighted on last week’s on Gardener’s World* and shows the fences being made by Norman Industries Site Manager Dai Brock and his team – and in particular how the new saw mill is being put to good use. Dai’s team will also get the opportunity to attend Hampton Court to help construct the garden.

Sue, who is from Swansea, has had a physical disability from birth. She is keen gardener and during the pandemic she sent in a one of the people’s videos that Gardener’s World were showing. They liked it so much that they snapped her up as a presenter.

Sue Kent said: “Working with Norman Industries is a richly rewarding experience. Their ability to creatively problem solve and their enabling approach is turning my idea for my RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden festival show garden into a high quality reality.”

Norman Industries provides training and work opportunities for people with a wide range of disabilities.

Karen Davies, Programme Manager at Norman Industries added: “I have known Sue for more than 30 years and when we met up recently and she was telling me how she was struggling to find other disabled people to help her with the garden, I knew that Norman Industries had to help.

“The garden showcases the various ways that Sue has adapted her own garden to make it work for her – everything has to either be shallow or accessible by feet to accommodate her disabilities.”

“This has been a fantastic opportunity for everyone at Norman Industries to show that having a disability is not a barrier to creativity, good workmanship or hard work. I am really proud of the work that is being done and really looking forward to seeing the garden at Hampton Court in July.”

As part of the garden design, Sue wanted to include some artwork. When she visited recently she met Hannah John and Gethin Williams who are both autistic and employed by Norman Industries in their craft area, she really liked their work. Both artists will have work featured in the garden which has a daisy theme.

If anyone would like to help fund the garden build and its return to Scolton Manor Park, Sue has created a “Go Fund Me” page. It can be found at https://gofund.me/9ed5fd01

For further updates on Sue’s garden designs, checkout her Instagram

31 May 2022