Williams F1 Team - Win Again

A Formula One-themed garden is one of three from Essex to have won gold medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

"The Williams F1 Story" by King & Co, based in Rayne, picked up the award in the Great Pavilion Awards for its collaboration with the grand prix team.

The display, with a full-scale topiary F1 car and pit crew, was designed to mark the team's 35-year history.

Grenada at Chelsea, of Woodham Walter, and Nazeing's Enterprise Plants also took gold in the category.

The King & Co exhibit has taken three years to cultivate at its Essex nurseries and includes a pit backdrop and car parts from the Oxfordshire-based team.

'Cutting edge'
Owner, Paul King said the gold award had left him with "a tingling feeling".

"From a professional point of view it's utopia and we're so happy we've achieved a level of excellence that's so hard to achieve," he said.

"We knew we'd done it as well as we could, but we thought the judges may not feel it was a Chelsea-type thing, but more a cutting edge, off the wall thing."

Team founder, Sir Frank Williams, whose team won the most recent Grand Prix in Spain, attended the show on Monday.

"Sir Frank absolutely loved it. Seeing him smile is worth a gold medal in itself," Mr King said.