Take a look around the beautiful new school gardens which impressed the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Catherine, on their royal visit to Southport on Tuesday (23rd September 2025).
This award-winning show garden also wowed judges and visitors at this year’s Southport Flower Show, and has been donated to be enjoyed by schoolchildren at Farnborough Road Junior and Infant schools in Birkdale.
The interactive and imaginative Schools Garden winner was designed by Trawden Forest Primary School in Lancashire and was created by acclaimed ‘Cloud Gardener’ Jason Williams after it was chosen as the winner from over 500 entries.
It has been re-established as a community garden across the entire site at Farnborough Road.
It has given the schools some much-needed green space as well as a real sense of joy for the children, who have been learning all about gardening and sustainability – as well as enjoying playing.
Jason Williams is also providing an In Bloom group with North West in Bloom Support and workshops with himself and Victoria at Northern Lily UK over the next academic year to support the school and ensure the garden’s success.
The show garden was planted straight after the Southport Flower Show ended in August, after earning a Large Gold Award and the People’s Choice Award.
Teachers, school staff, parents and local businesses all came together to plant everything as well as providing additional materials.
Volunteers are now being sought to help tend and water the new gardens – and to help educate the pupils about gardening.
Farnborough Road Infants School was attended by Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged 7, who had been due to move to the Junior School but tragically lost her life in the Southport tragedy last year.
Since then, lots of fundraising has taken place at the schools for Elsie’s Story Charitable Trust, which was set up in Elsie’s memory.
This summer, headteachers Jennifer Sephton and Adrian Antell completed a 15,000 ft skydive in Lancaster.
The school also implemented a ‘Break The Rules’ Day’ where children donated money so that they could wear odd socks, dance in classrooms, mix with other groups, wear face paint and sport temporary tattoos.
The gardens from Southport Flower Show have now introduced beautiful spaces where children can reflect, grow, nurture, and find joy.
Jennifer Sephton and Adrian Antell said: “We lacked green spaces at Farnborough Road, and were crying out for something like this.
“It’s had a really big impact on the children. It was wonderful to see their reaction when they came back into school for the start of their new term.
“We were approached by the organisers of Southport Flower Show – the call came completely out of the blue. We were absolutely thrilled. Everything was given to us for free.
“While it was a dream come true, we weren’t expecting the enormity of it! Without Jason Williams’ passion for this project, it wouldn’t have happened.
“It was a massive challenge when the show garden arrived. There were so many beautiful plants! Most of them we have kept here, although some which were left over have been donated to a community garden in Smithdown Road in Liverpool.
“We were trying to find a landscape gardener who would help us, but they were all so busy over the summer. Lee Bibby, of Lee Bibby Building Services, kindly donated two days of his time and put in a huge amount of work.
“We had 21 tons of soil; seven tons of gravel; seven tons of woodchips. Lee came and put sleepers in.
“We were very grateful that we managed to secure a real mix of staff, families, members of the community, local businesses who came in and shifted everything by hand.
“Local gardener Greg Mook, who also designed a show garden at Southport Flower Show, rocked up with a digger – that was a real Godsend!
“Massams garden supplies have been great as well. We told them what we needed and they responded with everything the very next day.
“Elements of the garden have been planted around the school site, including in our Forest School feature in the Infants’ School.
“Merseyrail and Network Rail kindly provided the transport for it, they came and moved everything.
“Sustainability is very important to us and this was such an important theme of this winning design.
“It includes a bug hotel called ‘Minibeast Manor’ and a ‘Pollinator Pit Stop’ which bees love.
“There is a mud kitchen and sand pit where they can play.
“There are lots of plants to be grown throughout the year, depending on the season.
“Recently children have been growing chili plants and beetroot!
“Sometimes one class grows a crop and another one harvests it. It develops teamwork and an understanding of where sustainable food comes from.
“You can see the smiles on the pupils’ faces. It has brightened up our school environment too, with more plants in areas including the Guildford Road entrance to the schools.
“We’d like to appeal to the local community for help. We’d like to hear from anyone with a keen interest in gardening who might like to come and support our project.
“Are you interested in watering, growing, dead-heading, or teaching children about gardening skills? Please get in touch.
“We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us to make this happen.”
A spokesperson for Trawden Forest Primary School said: “Our award-winning garden design, first built for the Southport Flower Show, has now been relocated to Farnborough Road schools in Southport.
“In the week following the Flower Show, time was spent carefully re-establishing the garden around the school site.
“The garden, plants and structures have helped transform their outdoor spaces beyond anything they imagined, and they have told us they are so grateful.
“It’s wonderful knowing that other children will also be able to enjoy the garden’s plants and special areas.
“We’re looking forward to keeping in touch and seeing how everything grows over time.”
The Schools Design-A-Garden Competition is a popular annual feature at Southport Flower Show.
The competition this year was sponsored by Merseyrail and was supported by Cloud Gardener UK, Northern Lily and North West in Bloom.
Jason Williams said: “I am proud to say that we won a Large Gold for our garden, the highest medal we could get, at the Southport Flower Show.
“Not only that, but we also won a special Horticultural Achievement Award in recognition of the quality of our exhibit by the Guild of Horticultural Judges.
“Congratulations to Sophia, Ms Nelson and Trawden Forest Primary School for their fantastic design.
“After the show, the garden was relocated to Farnborough Road schools.
“The garden is a walk-on garden and seeing children playing in the mud kitchen and sand pit, refusing to leave, as a designer, really lets me know that this garden is a success.
“Many thanks to our sponsors Merseyrail and all the incredible nurseries, businesses and organisations who contributed or donated to the garden. Also, the 50+ volunteers who worked so hard to get us across the finishing line.”
● If you would like to help, please email: office@frjs.co.uk or phone: 01704577625
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