Collaboration with Northeast England

Gardens in West Sweden was commissioned by Region Västra Götaland to produce a garden directory like the English “Yellow Book” run by the National Garden Scheme (NGS). This was the seed that became Trädgårdsresan, and we got in contact with the NGS in the north eastern region of Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.

Early on in our collaboration we established a Classic English Garden in Jonsered Gardens outside Gothenburg. The garden was designed by the award winning garden designer Susie White, and can be visited all year round. It was opened on 11 June 2017 by Susie herself, with Conny Brännberg, the chairperson of Region Västra Götaland’s Cultural Affairs Committee. Read what the NGS wrote about its exported garden here. 

In 2019 we’re about to export a West Swedish garden to England. To come up with a design of a West Swedish Garden we began with a workshop led by Stefan von Bothmer of Kosters Trädgårdar where we talked about what we mean by “West Swedish”. We gave the results to the students of Gunnebo Castle and Gardens who gave us nine drawings. We took these drawings to an important seminar in Mariestad where we, together with Susie White and Dacapo Mariestad, discussed the location - Saltwell Park in Gateshead/Newcastle - where the garden is to be planted.

We were working with three designers: Johnny Mattsson, Gunnebo Castle and Gardens; Maria Westeborn, Eriksgård in Tvååker; and Peter Svenson, Jonsered Gardens, on a final design for export.

Our West Swedish garden had the honour of being inaugurated twice, in June and August 2019. In June it was opened by Mrs Penny Snell from the NGS, known from her appearance on the Swedish television gardening programme Trädgårdstider. In August the garden was inaugurated in conjunction with the World Transplant Games 2019.

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