Every year there is more natural stone to be seen in the gardens at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show and this year was no exception.

The top prize of Best Show Garden went to the Daily Telegraph Garden. Designed by Andy Sturgeon and built by Crocus.co.uk Ltd, it included 5m³ of Jordan Whitbed Portland limestone from Albion Stone – more than 200 stones in all, supplied as pavers, 130mm thick stepping stones 1,000mm x 500mm, and some reveals, support stones and feature panels.

The stone panels complemented Corten steel screens that sliced through the design, fusing architectural and sculptural qualities to define spaces and control views within the garden.

Open clearings of sparsely planted gravel provided places to pause on a journey that culminates in a courtyard at the rear, where the shade of a stately cork oak and the sound of running water combined to create a contemplative retreat.

Realstone, the major stone quarry group, importers and processors of stone in Derbyshire, once again sponsored the James Wong and David Cubero Garden, the Tourism Malaysia Show Garden, which this year went one better than last year’s Silver Medal by taking a Gold.

The Victorian Aviary show garden, co-sponsored by Cumbrian stone quarriers and importers Kirkstone, who also have a showroom in London, took a Silver medal.

Kirkstone supplied their Brathay Blue Black slate for all the hard landscaping within the garden, including split-faced paving for the terrace, wall coping, planters, stepping stones and hand-worked radial treads which surrounded a large Victorian Aviary that was the focal point of the garden designed by Jonathan Denby and Phillipa Pearson.

The garden made strong use of Cumbrian products to showcase the region’s wealth of natural materials and its skills in working them.