LONG ago and far away last summer, I was sitting in the back garden one afternoon with my good friend Laurie, enjoying the warm sunshine (yes, we did have some), the hum of the insects and the colour and scent of the flowers, and I happened to mention in passing that I would love to use my gardening skills more and become a garden designer.

“Well, why don’t you then?” she said. And so my Fate for the next few months was sealed.

Not very long afterwards, I was to be found, for some days, fixed to my desk sweating over the first scale drawing of a garden design I had ever attempted, and trying to calculate how many grasses and tulips I would need to the wiggly square metre and, worse, how much it was all going to cost.

I began to wish that I’d paid a lot more attention in maths. But finally, all the required paperwork for my entry to the Chris Beardshaw Mentoring Scholarship, sponsored by Bradstone, was complete and ready to be delivered to The Three Counties Showground.

If my garden was accepted it would be built at the Spring Gardening Show and, if I won, I would have the opportunity to be mentored by the wonderful Chris Beardshaw as well as being invited to design further show gardens – even one at The Chelsea Flower Show. Prizes worth going for then!

Nothing was heard for a month or so while the RHS deliberated. Then, in late October, I learnt that my garden, View from the Circle, had been accepted into the competition. Phew.

Pause for breath while I look at the view from the top of the rollercoaster ride. The only way off now is a perpendicular ride down at breakneck speed to the finishing line. On the way there I must organise, call, budget, schedule, cajole, dig, plant, arrange, manoeuvre, spread and stay calm, so that everything looks as gorgeous as may be, just as the judges come by on May 7.

At least it’s going to be an interesting journey, don’t you think?

I had hoped to start this blog by reporting back on the meeting with Chris Beardshaw that all the designers in the competition were scheduled to have last Friday. But the weather had other ideas and it had to be postponed. It’s now something to look forward to in the thaw.

Meanwhile, how lovely Malvern has looked in the snow, like an enchanted Narnia! I have been out and about in my garden too, enjoying the snowy structure of it and taking a few photos: a white garden of very transient beauty, a gift of Nature, the greatest designer.

I attach a few photos of my winter garden, and one of summer colour as well, because I do miss it!