Quarry Garden to demonstrate the importance of quarrying to the economy and the natural world
THE Institute of Quarrying (IQ) is celebrating its centenary year by announcing plans for a spectacular ‘Quarry Garden’ at the first ever RHS Chatsworth Flower Show this summer.
The Quarry Garden, set to be the largest at the show, combines impressive stone features with colourful horticultural displays. The design is the work of multi RHS award-winning garden designer Paul Hervey-Brookes.
Dr Miles Watkins, President of the IQ, commented: ‘One hundred years ago a group of four quarriers laid the foundations for setting standards of professional development in the minerals extractives sector. Today we’re celebrating their vision with our own 21st century iteration of what quarrying means to us today.
‘The Quarry Garden reflects the brave new world of quarrying. It features stunning rock showpieces, such as the 2.5m high x 17m long cut stone vertical rill that forms an outer boundary of the garden. This is softened by the wealth of planting that includes species commonly associated with the natural recolonization of old quarry sites.
‘The extractives industries continue to contribute a major part of the Derbyshire and East Midlands economies. The Quarry Garden is a celebration of this significant contribution and where better to root it than at Chatsworth.’
Paul Hervey-Brookes added: ‘Working with IQ on this project has been a fantastic journey. My work as a garden and landscape designer is highly diverse and it has been an exciting new challenge to create something that both commemorates IQ’s centenary year and demonstrates the importance of quarrying within our natural world.’
As well as representing a celebration of the IQ’s centenary year, the Quarry Garden also aims to engage and inform the general public about the nature of quarrying in the UK and internationally, and its relationship with local communities and ecosystems.
Miles Watkins continued: ‘We have achieved so much as an industry over the past 100 years, and this project highlights these successes both with those who have operated within the industry and the general public.
‘The Quarry Garden also represents the importance of quarrying in our wider world, including the promotion of wildlife habitation and the sustainability of ecosystems. A huge number of quarrying sites in the UK and across the world are converted into beautiful nature reserves for the wider community to enjoy, leaving something behind for future generations to appreciate. We want to emphasise this message to those who might not be aware of the many ways in which the quarrying community has a positive impact on our world.’
RHS Chatsworth Flower show is taking place from 7–11 June 2017. For more information, visit: www.rhs.org.uk. For more information on the Quarry Garden, visit: www.quarrygarden.org.
