Have YOU got BRITAIN’S BEST LAWN? 2014
There’s £5,000 and a superb Atco mower to be won in our brilliant competition to find lawns that are a cut above
FROM the grand, rolling lawns of Chatsworth to the neatly-mown patches of grass in suburban back yards, the lawn has always been a classic feature of the glorious British garden.
Inspired by the landscaped gardens in the Palace of Versailles, and finessed by legendary gardeners such as Capability Brown, a lawn was once a status symbol for those who had staff to scythe and shear the grass. But after the invention of the lawnmower in the 19th Century it has become such an important feature that not having one, in any British garden, is almost unthinkable.
Now the race is on to find Britain’s Best Lawn 2015, and uncover the secrets of the dedicated gardeners who have created the nation’s finest greenswards.
The Mail on Sunday has teamed up with Briggs & Stratton, which makes specialist engines for garden machinery, to sponsor the competition for its tenth year – giving our green-fingered readers another fabulous opportunity to win prizes and praise for their hours of back-breaking work.
Of course a garden isn’t only a thing of beauty. Those devoted to their little slice of nature also enjoy better health.
Cutting a quarter-acre of lawn with a walk-behind lawnmower can burn up to 340 calories an hour and it’s also a recognised source of stress relief – unless, that is, you’re the family of 2014 runner-up Stuart Grindle, who put Keep Off The Grass signs on his lawn to prevent them unwittingly destroying it.
Other winners confessed they spent up to ten hours a day tending their lawns and gardens.
Nasa even argues that nitrogen discharged from decomposing grass clippings more than compensates for the carbon being released, and helps neutralise carbon footprints.
At the end of a long day in the garden, it seems everyone’s a winner. So if you think your lawn – no matter how large, or how tiny – is the Best in Britain, now is your chance to find out.