A derelict 100 years old summer house, discovered in an overgrown garden only a few miles away, stole the show at the 2016 RHS Malvern Spring Festival on the Three Counties showground.

Garden designer Mark Eveleigh, who lives at Castlemorton, found the falling down shelter tucked away behind the back of the period property St Katherine's at Cradley and, using Ty-Mawr's Lime Hemp Plaster, re-created it as the centrepiece of his show garden for cancer charity Macmillan. His imaginative effort was awarded a gold medal by RHS judges, who also gave it the ultimate prize of best in show in the face of competition from some of the best garden designers in the country.

Mark Eveleigh said: “Wow! What an immense accolade, I’m delighted to taking the top title. This award represents an enormous pat on the back from the industry I’m so proud to be a part of. This year we really have done all that we can to bring a spectacular show garden to RHS Malvern. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the team behind the show garden for their tremendous work and support along the way. It’s been a great privilege to create this garden for Macmillan!"

Ty-Mawr's MD, Joyce Gervis, commented: "Show gardens of this quality do not happen by chance. It is the result of throrough planning and preparation, incredible imagination and a lot of hard work. It is one of the joys of our work to be able to support and supply incredibly professional people like Mark and Gig Eveleigh who have worked our Lime Hemp Plaster into their award-winning creation. What an achievement!"

Judging took place on Wednesday 4 May, just 1 day before the festival opened to the public. Each winner passed a rigorous RHS judging process from a panel of top RHS experts. Forming the 2016 panel was Dougal Philip (Chair), Paul Hervey-Brooks and Richard Barnard as Garden Assessing Judges, along with Stephen Woodhams (Chair), James Alexander-Sinclair, Christopher Bailes and Arne Maynard as Garden Judges.

Judging of the Professional Show Gardens is based on the highly respected RHS Criteria, taking into consideration delivery, design, atmosphere, planting and construction. The RHS Floral Judging is based on overall impression, plants and endeavor.

Ken Nottage, CEO of Three Counties, said: “Quite simply the talent speaks for itself this year. 2016 sees the Show Gardens take up more space than ever before and the talent has matched the bigger spots going more grand and elaborate than we could ever have imagined. This is the time when RHS Malvern Spring Festival really comes into its own. The hard work is done and it’s time to sit back and appreciate the unimaginable efforts that go into bringing these spectacular designs to life. I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate the many winners we have this year and also thank them for their immense contributions of bringing the theatre to RHS Malvern Spring Festival.”