For me May’s always been one of my favourite – and busiest months – as it means the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. And I’m even happier that we’re going to be able to celebrate it this year without Covid restrictions.
Covid really did change the way we all think about outside space. However tiny a patch of it we have, even a courtyard or narrow balcony, we now want it to perform to the max. Even a window box can cheer us all up, flaunting nature’s bounty in the way of colour and flowers or edible herbs and salad. People are truly appreciating and cherishing their gardens, which means at RSL we’ve never been busier. During – and even since – Covid I’ve been increasingly asked to ‘bring the inside outside’ and nowadays my challenge is to transform gardens into stunning entertainment areas for all the family.
It’s why for this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, we decided to collaborate with Fairmont Windsor Park Hotel and Blue Forest, because Blue Forest makes the kind of tree houses which are second to none, the Rolls-Royces in their field. First, they’re simply beautifully made, hand-crafted, bespoke and carefully constructed so as not to damage surrounding trees. Second, the team at Blue Forest is as imaginative as it gets and puts no limit on a client’s dreams. Adults and children alike can indulge in their wildest fantasy from media den, elegant dinner party venue or leafy cigar terrace to Robinson Crusoe hideaway or full-on Harry Potter enchanted castle. ‘Everyone loves treehouses for some reason,’ says Blue Forest’s founder Andy Payne, ‘whether it’s a rambling shack in a tree and your memories of being a child, or a man-cave in a tree, they’re magic for everybody’. The company has been a joy to work with, particularly as it has an ‘of course we can do that’ attitude.
Our Blue Forest tree house for Chelsea will be around two metres off the ground, which is lucky, as otherwise it would just about fill the whole plot. We’re creating a woodland around it, with some lovely alders, traditional, multi-stemmed hazels and then a couple of tall, feathery beeches which will screen and shade the tree house balcony. Around them we are creating great splashes of colour with rhododendrons, azaleas, camelias, foxgloves and ferns. They all thrive in dappled shade and are redolent of a beautiful late spring day in English woodland.
A treehouse inspires everyone’s inner child and represents all the adventure and enchantment of a midsummer dream. I’m delighted to be working with Blue Forest at Chelsea this year and the good news is that once the Flower Show is over, the tree house is going to be reinstated in a woodland area at Fairmont Windsor Park, so at the show you’ll be able to find out more about the hotel and how to visit it. So come and find us and we’ll welcome you warmly. You can access our site via a paved stone path off the main avenue and we very much look forward to seeing you there.