Growing for Gold: UCF student wins top gardening award

BA(Hons) Garden Design student, Rob Hurford, won the Student Garden Design Competition at the largest independent flower show in the country, the Southport Flower Show, earlier this year with his 1920's inspired garden design.

The Southport Flower Show Student Garden Design Competition is a national competition that gives the garden designers and landscapers of tomorrow an opportunity to build a garden for the flower show and potentially launch their career. Hailed 'the garden by the sea', Southport's jewel in the crown has always been its annual flower show held in 34 acres of the beautiful Victoria Park, and has a long and proud history of displaying the finest horticulture in the north.

Rob is in his final year at University College Falmouth and was awarded £1,000 in prize money and a further £5,000 to create his designer show garden, which was on display at the four-day event in August.

Rob took his inspiration for his winning garden from Southport's seaside and the connection between land and sea, which informed his modern streamlined design. The influence of the 1920's steamships also helpled shape the garden, providing its fundamental concept.

"I was really excited by the opportunity to realise a garden design at such a well-respected flower show with such a rich history, that has offered me an invaluable learning experience," said Rob. "Forming a working relationship with friends and colleagues from the University College has allowed me to gain an understanding of how a design practice might function and in constructing the garden, I have been challenged to take on a leadership role which was an enriching experience."

"We are absolutely delighted not only for Rob but also for the Garden Design course," said Falmouth's Course Leader, Richard Sneesby. "To have won this award is a fantastic achievement, and confirms that UCF's unique approach to garden design is what the industry is looking for, and reinforces the fact that we have one of the finest courses in the UK today."

Now in its sixth year, the Student Garden Design Competition attracted a number of entries from across the county. The competition was open to any student in the UK, full or part-time, currently studying for a recognised qualification in garden design, horticulture or landscaping, or to any student in the UK who successfully completed a recognised qualification during the last year.

For further information about Southport Flower Show visit, www.southportflowershow.co.uk

For further information about BA(Hons) Garden Design at University College Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk/gardendesign, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 214382.

University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.

This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012/2013 that will be unique to the South West.

The College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One and Convergence), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.

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For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792, or email: jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk

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