We have been exhibiting at Chelsea for since 2006 and like to incorporate a feature area as part of the trade-stand.
2013 was the RHS centenary year. We discovered that the bench we inherited with this cottage in 1980 was also 100 years old as it is made from the reclaimed teak decking of HMS Birmingham, launched in 1913.

2013 was the year that the Duke of Edinburgh came on to the stand at Chelsea to hear my story of the bench and then he explained to me the difference between a Battleship and a light town Cruiser!

Being an Edward Thomas admirer, I had known for a while that the date that inspired the poem `Adlestrop`was Midsummer day 1914. This was to be our feature for 2014 and we made the platform sign, ticket office, sleepers and fence.

A friend lent the 3 cast iron bench ends, with a little specialist welding, some TLC and new oak planks we returned the bench to its original Victorian glory.
Sensitive planting completed the scene to celebrate the poem “and for that minute a blackbird sang.”

In 1915 Robert Frost sent Edward Thomas the first copy of the now favourite poem `The road not taken`. The two opposing arrows of our fingerpost became our 2015 Chelsea feature alongside gentle reminders of the English countryside that Edward Thomas walked, cycled and wrote about before the horror of WW1.