A garden with a story to tell

Based on the site of the former National Bulb Exhibition Centre, the Springfields development features factory outlet shops, themed educational gardens, celebrity designed showcase gardens, striking water features, woodland walks as well as the traditional show beds of daffodils, tulips and other flowering bulbs. The landscape architectural practice, Barnes Walker, who have been in charge of the development of the landscaping for the whole site, are also based in Cheshire.

With over £22m invested in the project, Springfields will give an estimated 2 million visitors per year the chance to shop, eat, and gain inspiration for their own gardens. Admission to the gardens is free of charge.

The garden story is based on an old Japanese folk tale called Momotaro (The Peach Seed Boy), a character who is as familiar to a Japanese audience, as Robin Hood is to a British one. In the story, an elderly childless couple find a peach in a stream. They take the peach home to eat, but when they cut open the peach, they find a small boy instead of a peach stone. They adopt the boy, who grows into a strapping, almost super human character. The village where the couple live is plagued by malevolent spirits, called Oni. When Momotaro becomes a young man he vows to rid the village of the menace of the Oni. Momotaro joins with three companions, a dog, a monkey and a pheasant, together they set off on an epic journey, to confront the Oni in their heartland. They spy on the castle home of the Oni, and devise a plan to attack. This plan they successfully carry out, defeating the Oni and returning in triumph to their home village bearing the treasure they have recovered from the one’s lair.

A TOUR OF THE MOMTARO GARDEN
The garden is entered by way of a granite-paved pavilion. The walls of which are plastered and finished in muted earth colours.	A moon window (a circular opening) is incorporated to allow a limited view of part of the garden beyond. The central feature of which represents the opening of the story – being the childless couple taking the form of a pair of impressive standing stones.	Exiting from this area the visitor is taken towards a traditional Japanese style ‘dry’ garden of rocks, gravel and planting – representing the element of the finding the peach in the stream.
	The pathway with its intricate patterns has been specifically designed by Sansui-design and was hand cut in China.
Travelling along the granite pathway alongside a gravel streambed, the visitor arrives at the couple opening of the peach and discovering the young boy.
The area to the rear of the garden depicts a dramatic landscape of hills and mountains through which the companion’s journey toward their goal. This wild and dramatic landscape is enhanced by the careful siting of skilfully tended and shaped pine trees, which work to give a false perspective to the area.		The next scene depicts Momotaro and his meeting with the three companions. This is a low-lying landscape with a view of an island appearing in a ‘dry ocean’ to the right of the path.
A striking chequer board layout represents the battle scene. This is the crucial element of the story where Momotaro and his companions launch their assault on the castle.		The castle home of the Oni is located on an island set in a gravel pond
where the large, dark, angular pieces of slate making up the island are intended to give this part of the garden a slightly ominous air.	The visitor then walks with the companions past the 'dragon’s lightening' which is representative of the triumph of good over evil. In Oriental mythology dragons are a symbol of the Life Force or primal energy.	To their homecoming where the companion’s return the treasure to the villagers amid festivities and celebrations.
	The ethos of the whole garden is to combine horticultural, literary, cultural, aesthetic and educational aspects, thereby seeking to engage the visitor in a profound way. By following traditional Japanese garden design concepts the visitor is be able to experience a range of different landscape treatments showing the various ways arranging and combining both hard and soft landscape materials. The garden doesn’t seek to recreate a Japanese garden as seen in Japan, rather to interpret some of the fundamental design principles in innovative ways. The planting within the garden is not only a backdrop for the story line but also is becomes integrated into the story itself. The garden has been designed as an educational piece of artwork, lending itself to be used to teach children not only about Japan and its folk tales, but also tells a tale with a strong moral message. The future use of the garden may include school visits, also adult workshops on aspects of Japanese gardening and design, thereby using the garden as a teaching tool.
Visitors then exit past an original Japanese stone lantern of an unusual type, the stem of the lantern being mounted on the back of a frog (a symbolic wish for visitors to return again to the garden).

Sansui-design has a particular interest in the relationships formed between the garden and the visitor. They have already completed a highly successful garden in California, which took a Buddhist parable for its theme. Creating gardens with a story line is an original and innovative element of the work of this design practice, blending Eastern and Western approaches to garden design, they are able to draw on the strengths of two of the world’s great garden traditions.

For further information please contact us