IT'S a fair challenge to reflect the rural landscape and skills of the corner of England known as Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire on a 25-yard square plot at the Three Counties Showground, but Chris Beardshaw is certainly going to try.

The far-too-good-looking-for-his-own good celebrity gardener, who was once both a student and a lecturer at Pershore College, has taken on the task as a way of marking 50 years of shows at the stunning venue set against the panoramic backdrop of the Malvern Hills.

The grand plan is to re-create a traditional Victorian bothy gardener's patch, complete with all sorts of features such as dry stone walls, a pig sty, cider apple orchard and native hedgerows. But first, as every countryman will tell you, you've got to fence out the rabbits. Oherwise they'll have anything that's green and growing.

That's why Chris was on the showground this week with his measuring tape and several rolls of rabbit-proof netting.

These were the first steps towards building the garden, which will be unveiled at the Malvern Spring Gardening Show which opens on May 10. Officially called The Three Counties Garden, it promises to be some exhibit.

For a start it will include livestock - and rare breed ones at that.

"Transport was not so developed in Victorian times," said Chris, "so small cottage households, as well as farms and estates, relied on animals to provide the family with a regular supply of meat, eggs and dairy produce, as well as dung for fertilising crops, so they could be self sufficient."

Therefore the garden includes the pig sty with its porcine residents, a meadow grazed by Ryeland sheep with chickens and wildflowl scratching about, plus a pond full of ducks and geese.

"Visitors to the Spring Gardening Show are used to some quirky sights," he added, "such as sculptures, unusual garden buildings and even living statues in the show gardens, but I think livestock - particularly in context - is a first."

The plot will also encompass an ornamental cutting garden and cottage style herbery.

Another aim is to demonstrate how the skills and practices of old are still relevant today and how the Victorian bothy gardener kept wasteage to a minimim, re-cycling as much as possible.

"I'm hoping to involve as many local growers, farmers and craftspeople as possible in the project," Chris said. "So I'll soon be looking for people to display their produce and demonstrate their skills.

"The sort I am after are allotment growers and horticultural clubs, as well as the smaller growers and farmers. It's a real community project."

The first 10 tons of stone will be delivered to the site next week and from then on Chris and his team will be returning at regular intervals to steadily create the garden.

One of the first tasks will be to bed in a number of old apple trees from Much Marcle cider makers Weston that blew down in the recent gales.

"We want to get them in as soon as possible so the site can mature as the spring grass grows," Chris explained. "The idea is to make everything look as though it's been there forever. The more nettles, cowslips and primroses growing the better. I don't want it all new and nicely polished."

The bulk of the planting will take place in the three weeks leading up to the show.

"It's a project that I'm very excited about," he added. "Gardening is a very traditional activity and we can learn so much about it from how they did it in the past."

* Malvern Spring Gardening Show organised by the Royal Horticultural Society and the Three Counties Agricultural Society takes place on the Three Counties Showground from Thursday, May 10, to Sunday, May 13.

Advance tickets available from 01684 584924. Tickets for the preview day on Thursday, May 10, are strictly limited.

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