See inside Chesterfield couple's 'tropical' back garden which is gaining national attention

Richard and Sharon Smithson’s labour of love is the ‘secret’ back garden they have created over the last 20 years at their Hawksley Avenue home.

Passers-by will be unaware of the tropical haven hidden away, featuring the foliage of banana plants, a grape vine and begonias, along with ferns, bamboos and gunnera.

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But now the small, enclosed garden, 40ft wide and 50ft at its longest, has reached the final four of a national gardening competition run by newspaper the Daily Mail.

Richard, 63, who works for Bolsover Woodlands Enterprise, a conservation project for adults with learning disabilities, says he is ‘very proud’ of their creation and the national attention it is receiving.

"We’ve had success in Chesterfield in Bloom previously but with that being cancelled this year we entered this national competition,” he said.

"They had more than 2,000 entries and we reached the top 12 and then the final four. We will find out over the next fortnight if we have won.”

Richard previously worked in the parks department at Leeds City Council and has always had an interest in gardening – but it was in combination with wife Sharon that the current masterpiece took shape.

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"We started on it 20 years ago when it was just a bit of lawn and a couple of borders,” Richard said.

"The plan was to create something a little different so we did away with the straight lines and aimed for organic shapes.

“All the walls and fences have gone and it has created a space where you can’t define the edges. It remains a small space but there is an awful lot in it.”

The Smithsons have been heavily influenced by the tropical foliage found in Cornwall, with their garden becoming ‘a tranquil extension’ to the house, and very much a space for all seasons.

In recent years they have opened the garden up to raise funds for Chesterfield’s twin town in Namibia, Tsumeb, to support friend Derek Sherratt who has helped to build a kindergarten in the African country.

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