Lakeland stone from Cumbria-based Burlington has become a regular feature of the Chelsea Flower Show and 2005 has been no exception. This year, the company\'s Elterwater Green stone played its part in helping dry stone waller Andrew Loudon collect a prestigious Silver-Gilt Flora award on his first ever appearance at the show.

Forming one of several Courtyard Garden designs displayed at Chelsea, Andrew Loudon\'s design was called \'The Philosophical Garden\'. At its heart was a 1.2m diameter stone sphere. Made of hundreds of pieces of Burlington Elterwater Green, the sphere sat opposite a negative image of itself, recessed into a stone wall also made of made of Elterwater Green.

It took Andrew, who has been building dry stone walls for 15 years, 12 days to construct the piece. He said: "When natural slate is split during the process of riving, a bubble of slate can often be seen remaining on one of the exposed surfaces, which consequently leaves a negative image on the other. I\'ve always found this fascinating and with it came the idea of the sphere and its negative image for the design centrepiece of my Philosophical Garden."

Andrew has previously enjoyed success at the Royal Horticultural Society show in Tatton Park, Cheshire, in each of the past three years. Last year he received a Gold Medal and Best in Show Award, and in the previous two years received a Gold Medal and Silver Gilt award.