Williams F1 car topiary exhibit wins Chelsea gold

The exhibit features actual car parts and team driver Bruno Senna's crash helmet

A Formula One-themed garden is one of three from Essex to have won gold medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

"The Williams F1 Story" by King & Co, based in Rayne, picked up the award in the Great Pavilion Awards for its collaboration with the grand prix team.

The display, with a full-scale topiary F1 car and pit crew, was designed to mark the team's 35-year history.

Grenada at Chelsea, of Woodham Walter, and Nazeing's Enterprise Plants also took gold in the category.

The King & Co exhibit has taken three years to cultivate at its Essex nurseries and includes a pit backdrop and car parts from the Oxfordshire-based team.

'Cutting edge'

Owner, Paul King said the gold award had left him with "a tingling feeling".

"From a professional point of view it's utopia and we're so happy we've achieved a level of excellence that's so hard to achieve," he said.

"We knew we'd done it as well as we could, but we thought the judges may not feel it was a Chelsea-type thing, but more a cutting edge, off the wall thing."

Team founder, Sir Frank Williams, whose team won the most recent Grand Prix in Spain, attended the show on Monday.

"Sir Frank absolutely loved it. Seeing him smile is worth a gold medal in itself," Mr King said.

Grenada at Chelsea won its 10th gold in 15 years at the show

Grenada at Chelsea won its 10th Chelsea gold, its fourth in succession, for its Tropical Paradise exhibit.

The garden's purpose is to promote the Caribbean island through the world-famous horticultural show.

Suzanne Gaywood, who has previously been awarded an MBE for her contribution to Grenadian tourism, said 10 golds was "a pretty good record".

"It's a mixture of huge relief, excitement and pride at the achievement of the whole team," she said.

She described the display as and "Anglo-Grenadian project" with the plants grown in the Caribbean and exhibits designed and created in Essex.