Vialii Review of 2011

Thursday, 29 December 2011

Christmas is now passed and we’re shuffling towards 2012 which marks a suitable opportunity to reflect on the year just passed and our review of 2011. It’s been a busy year indeed. An exciting one too. We’ve designed and built more gardens than ever before and, with the help of some new additions to the Vialii team, managed to expand the maintenance operations too. We’re hoping to carry forward the momentum into the new year and continue the steady growth although as you’ll read below this is not going to be without it’s fresh challenges. So without further ado we present out Vialii Garden Design awards for 2011.

We visited the amazing Eden Project in 2011

EVENT OF THE YEAR

I’m going to be a Dad! Sometime in January 2012 Vialii will have itself a tiny little apprentice. Without question this has been the single-most exciting ‘project’ I have ever been involved in. It has blown my tiny mind. The learning curve has been both steep and illuminating and I know that I’m nowhere near the top of the curve as yet but I’m relishing the rest of the climb.

GARDEN OF THE YEAR

Due to the pregnancy we opted to holiday in the UK this year and we spent a lovely fortnight plodding around Cornwall. As is our way, we visited a bunch of gardens, Heligan, Trebah, St Michael’s Mount etc but the garden (if you can call it that) that really blew our socks off was The Eden Project. It is just fantastic. The sheer scale of the site is breathtaking and the attention to detail throughout is exquisite. You can read all about our visit to the Gardens of Cornwall here.

A Biodome…in front of Eden’s Biodomes

An honourable mention goes to Jupiter Artland which my beloved and I visited on my birthday in June which not only has stunning Charles Jencks landforms but has the most delightful sculpture garden.

The sculpture garden at Jupiter Artland can be, at times, very atmospheric

GARDEN SHOW OF THE YEAR

RHS Chelsea. My beloved and I both made it to Chelsea this year and we both agreed it was an outstanding event and that Cleve West was a deserved winner with his show garden. As always we found it inspiring and invigorating. Due to the impending baby birth, however, it is unlikely we will make it the Chelsea in 2012 but we’re going to try and squeeze in a baby-friendly show somewhere later in the summer.

Cleve West’s Chelsea winning show garden

A talented garden designer…and Cleve West

That’s about all I can think about awarding for now so I’m going to sign off. I would like to take this opportunity to give a hearty thanks to all the readers of this blog and to our clients for their continued support throughout the year and we wish you all the very best for 2012.

Michael and all at Vialii