June 2004

Wednesday 2nd
We get wonderful sunsets here in Nuwaiba. Tonight all the rocks of the surrounding hills were glowing a deep pink. An omen of things to come.

Thursday 3rd
Lying on the sunbeds by the pool, I have been trying to think pink, but have still not managed to get my brain around any sort of inspiration for a garden for 2005.

Friday 4th
Our last dive today took us through a shallow ravine at about 15 metres deep, which the dive master told us hadn't been there 10 years ago. It had been created by an earthquake. What was amazing was the colonisation of the rock walls by soft corals and small hard corals starting to grow. The whole area was teeming with life where such a short while ago there had been bare rock. It really struck me how nature has the amazing ability to restore that which is broken within the environment. Truly it must abhor a vacuum.

Saturday 5th
We return to the airport via a newly constructed mountain road. Typically Egyptian, though neatly constructed with little while walls edging the deep ravines alongside the road, nothing had been done to support the fractured rock faces above the road where they had blasted through. The bus driver neatly avoided huge rock falls across the road. Again man has imposed his symmetry across the landscape only to have it thwarted. Nature strikes back!

Thursday 10th
I start my Radiotherapy today (following my operation in February). This treatment was deferred so that I could complete the build at Chelsea.

Monday 14th
Spend the day working on the Garden plan for 2005.

Tuesday 15th
The Chelsea accounts for the year have to be finalised and I have a visit from the accountant. Working again on the Garden plan. See the 1st rough sketch from Philip.

Wednesday 16th
I visit Michael and Heather (our sponsors) at home to discuss the garden for Chelsea 2005. Though still in its infancy I have designed a garden within a garden where nature is moving in both directions. They seem keen on the concept.

Thursday 17th
I spend some time talking to Philip about my idea for the 4head Garden 2005. I have decided to set the garden somewhere in the Mediterranean region. So many British people are now moving out there that I feel it will be quite relevant, but I also want to send a strong conservation message to those Brits who are starting to garden abroad. I will need a rockbank site and the Garden will be a walled horseshoe shaped terrace cut into the side of the hill with old derelict olive groves surrounding it, which are left intact, with all their wildflowers.

Phil likes the concept and as always says 'Draw the plan and I'll sketch it for you'.

Saturday 19th
Philip and Anette are returning to their home in Sweden. This gives me a few weeks to work on the new plan.

Tuesday 22nd
Starting to think of plants for the garden. I'd like to use a lot of perfumed material and though we don't often associate roses with the Mediterranean, many varieties actually come from or were developed in this region. I phone Beales Roses as they do a lot of old fashioned roses that I would like to use in the garden. Unfortunately their commitment to their own exhibit at Chelsea prevents them from supplying plants to other exhibitors.

Wednesday 23rd
I meet Bonnie and Nicky, our PR Gurus for lunch in Cambridge. It is lovely to see them again and to tell them that once more we were hitting the Chelsea trail. They are delighted with the news and very keen on the design concept.

Thursday 24th
Kevin from Squires comes to see me. I'd given him the news about the new garden. He was very excited by the concept and interested in what he felt would be a very challenging build. He needs the drawings as soon as possible so that he can give me a price for construction.

Monday 28th
This promises to be a very busy week. The initial drawings and forms for our Chelsea application have to be submitted to the RHS by Friday. I have also got a couple of days of planting at Hampton Court.

Tuesday 29th
I have been asked by an old friend, Pete Simms, to help him with the planting of his Water Garden at Hampton Court. This will be the first year that I haven't done a garden at Hampton for five years. It will be lovely to go and see everyone. I manage to persuade the Radiotherapy department at Addenbrookes Hospital to let me have a couple of days off.

Wednesday 30th
Return home from Hampton. The 2 days there, though I have done very little physical work, have left me absolutely exhausted!