Yeovil woman follows passion to RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Julie Haylock credited the team of landscapers and Andrew, her "amazing" husband of 40-years, for helping her construct the project

A former police investigation support officer is set to make her debut at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Julie Haylock, 59, from Yeovil, spent 30 years working for Avon and Somerset Constabulary before becoming a garden designer.

Her entry to the show is a tribute to the palaeontologist, Mary Anning.

Mrs Haylock said: "Gardening has always been an interest and a passion, but it's something I never had the time to follow through with."

In 2016, Ms Haylock decided to "follow her heart" and enrol onto an Advanced Garden Design Course at Kingston Mauward College in Dorchester.

She said: "It was just a change in life and I was thinking perhaps there's something else out there."

At the end of her course, she achieved a Distinction grade in her diploma.

The garden features stepping stones inscribed with the sea shells tongue twister, which was written about Mary Anning

In June 2022, Ms Haylock applied to participate in the 2023 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

She has entered the Balcony and Container Gardens category, which aims to assist emerging designers by helping them start their careers in the industry.

Along with the other nine entrants in the category, she was mentored by multi-award winning RHS Chelsea designer, Paul Hervey-Brookes.

Mrs Haylock's entry, entitled The Mary Anning Space to Learn Garden, is an outdoor learning space for children, inspired by the work of the 19th Century palaeontologist.

It features hollowed out Douglas fir tree stumps filled with Jurassic plants.

Julie Haylock said: "It's brilliant and a huge excitement to do a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show"

She said: "Hopefully with the idea of the container category, it will give people ideas of things to plant in.

"It's about remembering the wildlife side of it and the sustainability of it.

"Using the tree stumps as a container gives them a second life."

At the end of the show, the elements of Mrs Haylock's garden will be donated to a local primary school.