british war memorials · a soldier's dream of blighty

additional information selection box

use the down arrow to view option ========================= ---------- section a ---------- argentine graves [Rem] asquith, lieutenant raymond [BWM] ========================= ---------- section b ---------- baltic exchange [BWM] battle britain memorial flight [BWM] bayes, gilbert [BWM] bean, charles [BWM] blighty, a soldier's dream of [BWM] british medical association [BWM] ========================= ---------- section c ---------- canada and liverpool [BWM] cenotaph, new zealand [BWM] chopsticks memorial [BWM] cochrane, admiral lord thomas [Rem] collingwood, vice admiral lord [BWM] ========================= ---------- section f ---------- fishguard [BWM] ========================= ---------- section g ---------- glasgow university memorial chapel [BWM] grenfell, captain the honourable julian [Rem] ========================= ---------- section h ---------- halifax bomber lw 340 [Rem] havelock, major general sir henry [BWM] helles memorial [BWM] home guard memorial (torbay) [BWM] hollis vc, stanley [BWM] horner, lieutenant edward [BWM] ========================= ---------- section k ---------- king’s own royal regiment memorial chapel [BWM] king's royal rifle corps [BWM] ========================= ---------- section l ---------- lincoln cathedral [BWM] ========================= ---------- section m ---------- malta [BWM] madingly [Rem] montford, paul [BWM] mckenzie, dr r tait [BWM] midleton, lord [BWM] music of remembrance [Rem] ========================= ---------- section n ---------- nelson's island [Rem] newgass, lieutenant harold [BWM] ========================= ---------- section p ---------- polish war memorial [BWM] ========================= ---------- section r ---------- rugby school memorial chapel [BWM] ========================= ---------- section s ---------- sandhurst, royal memorial chapel [BWM] sicily [Rem] st brides church [BWM] stirling bomber n 3654 [Rem] strange burial, a [Rem] ========================= ---------- section t ---------- turing, alan [BWM] ========================= ---------- section w ---------- wakeful, HMS [Rem] wakenshaw vc, private adam [BWM] williams, lieutenant colonel henry [Rem] women at war memorial [BWM]

In 2004 the eminent garden designer Julian Dowle finally threw in the trowel and constructed his 25th and very last garden for the Chelsea Flower Show. However, he was subsequently contacted by the Royal Hospital Chelsea and invited by them to produce a showgarden for the Chelsea Pensioners at the 83rd Chelsea Flower Show. He quickly decided that it was too great a privilege to refuse and set to work.

“The garden was designed by Mr Dowle after he had asked Chelsea Pensioners over a pint of Spitfire what they most missed about Britain when they were serving abroad during the war”

Set in 1945, the garden he designed was conceived to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The garden was designed by Mr Dowle after he had asked Chelsea Pensioners over a pint of Spitfire what they most missed about Britain when they were serving abroad during the war.

He then set out to recreate 'A Soldier's Dream of Blighty'. Its features included a 'Dig for Victory' vegetable garden, a wildflower meadow, welcome home bunting and a traditional thatched English village pub, called The Chelsea Pensioner. Its design included a thatched roof with traditional rendered walls covered with climbing roses. Outside was a stone terrace, with benches and tables, surrounded by a cottage garden. A stone gravel path linked the pub to a village green planted with 5,000 red poppies and a duck pond.

Although the Chelsea Flower Show had been constructed in their back garden every year since 1913, this was the very first time that the 325 residents of the Royal Hospital had enjoyed their own garden. The garden's vegetables were grown entirely by In-Pensioners at the Royal Hospital, who worked from a 1939 seed catalogue to select the actual varieties used to feed Britain during the war.

The Guardian newspaper reported: 'There was only one truly happy man, a splash of scarlet in a sea of purple, sitting on a nice wooden bench by a nice wooden table, shaded by some jolly nice roses, with most of a nice pint still in front of him. A lifetime in the army taught William Germanes intense caution about volunteering for anything, but he thought this one sounded all right when his colonel came recruiting from among the Chelsea Pensioners at the Royal Hospital. All Mr Germanes - and a rota of fellow pensioners for the rest of the week - had to do was sit outside it in his uniform, while somebody brought him beer. 'Some might think this garden is gone a bit to the wild, but to my mind that's better than these manicured designer ones,' he said with feeling. 'I am a very contented man. I don't know how long it goes on for me, but for now, for as long as it lasts, I am content.'

A Soldier's Dream of Blighty was previewed at the Cincinnati Flower Show in the United States in April 2005, where it was awarded their Gold Medal. At the Chelsea Flower Show in May 2005 the garden was awarded the Gold Medal, Best Show Garden and the BBC RHS People's Award, (the first time that all three awards have been won by one designer and the Gold Medal was Julian Dowle's tenth).

On 22 August 2005 it was announced that the garden would be transplanted to a village pub named the New Flying Horse a 17th century posting house set among the North Downs in Wye, Kent. 'It will serve as a lasting memorial to those who fought in the Second World War after being 'bought' by Shepherd Neame, England's oldest family brewers, with a £12,500 donation to the £35 million appeal to rebuild the Royal Hospital Chelsea.'

Mr Dowle, one of the most successful designers in the history of the Chelsea Flower Show said: 'This garden was so popular and so successful that many people felt it was really sad to think that it would die once the show ended. Now, that is not going to happen and I think that's rather wonderful.' The Daily Telegraph reported: 'Jonathan Neame, the chief executive of Shepherd Neame, which has raised about £100,000 for veterans' charities since launching its Spitfire ale 15 years ago, said: 'The Battle of Britain was fought predominantly over Kent and the brewery and the people who work there have many associations with the conflict'.