BBC TV's The One Show to feature work of award-winning firm, from Helpston, who revamped remembrance garden at Rainbows Hospice

A business which won a national award for revamping the remembrance garden of a children’s hospice is to have its work showcased on TV.

Helpston-based Alfresco Landscaping was one of just four companies in the UK to be asked to build a garden for the Royal Horticultural Society’s Community Garden scheme.

The RHS awards a new garden to a community from each of the four home nations, with Alfresco asked to build the winning English entry.

They will work with BBC presenter and Gold Medal-winning designer Arit Anderson to build the garden in Huntingdon which will then feature on BBC 1's The One Show.

Their progress will be filmed once work begins in June and then when the garden is complete.

Earlier this year the company won the HTA Benevolent Fund award at the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) Awards 2022.

It was given for ‘making the most impact to the community’ for revamping the Rainbows Hospice Remembrance Garden in Loughborough.

“These are the Baftas for the Landscaping Industry,” said Alfresco Landscaping director Alastair Peat.

"The APL represent the top four per cent of companies in the country and we have been singled out. It’s a massive achievement for the team as a whole.”

The project extended and improved the garden which remembers children who have received end-of-life care at Rainbows.

“After our first visit to the hospice we immediately felt that we needed to be involved in this project,” Alastair added.

“Just being in the garden and seeing the hundreds of names of children who had received end of life care and sadly passed away.

“Their legacy needed to be given an inspiring yet serene space to be remembered.”

The garden centre piece is a corten steel tree sculpture on which glass leaves are tied with the names and dates of the children.

Alfresco last year won an industry collaboration award with VaRa Designs for the project.

The APL judges said Alfresco had shown integrity and were a credit to the industry.

They said: “Alfresco worked in collaboration with the designers to complete a charming, restful, reflective space for the relatives and staff of the hospice. “