It's the Prince versus the prisoners at the Chelsea Flower Show. The Queen was at Chelsea on Monday viewing the show gardens. Among them is one inspired by her son's estate at Highgrove, and another grown and built by inmates of Leyhill Open Prison. Both the Prince of Wales, with a garden inspired by a carpet at Highgrove and the prisoners of Leyhill will be hoping for a gold medal. Miniature Eden Leyhill Prison's show garden is a version of the Eden Project.
Water flows through a transparent dome and there is a miniature rainforest inside.
Around the sides Jeff Groundrill, head of activities at the prison, has supervised a team planting everything from tea plants to potatoes, mustard and sweetcorn. On the social calendar Among those walking the garden's gravel path awaiting the Chelsea judges, the Director-General of the Prison Service Martin Narey. I think it is incumbent on the Prison Service to prepare people so they will get jobs. This polite society event, with its champagne and socialising, could hardly be a greater contrast to prison life. For Joe Levenson, of the Prison Reform Trust, the project sets an important example.