Show garden takes it slow

The Norfolk motto “Slow you down” has inspired a garden at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

Holt garden designers Joe and Laura Carey have designed a show garden which “embraces an unhurried pace” and provides a little oasis.

Called Freedom To Flourish, the garden is designed to make people slow down.

Joe said it included a flooding path, cutting off access in and out of the garden (to embrace life’s interruptions), and highlighted the positive effect that nature and gardens have on mental health and wellbeing.

Its colours are inspired by the saltmarshes of north Norfolk and it includes a narrative about the benefits of embracing an unhurried, “slow you down” lifestyle.

The couple are returning to the show following their successful debut in 2023 when their garden was awarded a gold medal and judged to be Best in Show.

Based in Holt, their business, Carey Garden Design Studio, was set up to make the most of their individual skills – Laura nurtures the plants and Joe is the “ideas man”.

The studio won the Rising Star Award in the House and Garden Design Awards for new and emerging creative talent, and Joe and Laura have been named in the Top 20 Garden Designers list for Country and Townhouse Magazine for two years on the trot.