In association with property investment company CAPCO, Lee Bestall celebrates over 500 years of history from the much loved Covent Garden, London.

2017 was a special year for Covent Garden. It was the first year that it presented a display at the world class flower show known by so many garden enthusiasts simply as Chelsea.

500 years of Covent Garden is my creation for this years Chelsea Flower Show, but the story starts much earlier in history when back in the 13th century the area was an orchard producing fruit and vegetables for the monks table at Westminster Abbey. Know then as Convent Garden, the area grew apples amongst other fruits, and it’s the apple tree I chose to celebrate at this years show.

I sourced three 35 year old apple trees from a plant hunting trip in Belgium, where they had been rescued from the bonfire when an old orchard was demolished. At the end of their fruiting life, these apple trees were no longer commercially viable, but their shape and form was so beautiful I knew I had to include them in my garden at Chelsea.

The wilder planting to the rear of the space is how I imagine the wild flower meadows would have once looked, and the brightly painted arches were inspired by the metal archways in the 19th century Covent  Garden market.

The modern furniture by Jonathan Stockton was inspired by apple crates and used over half a kilometre of European Oak.