Welcome to Chilstone’s News Blog

One of Janes unique statues

Sculptor Jane Robbins has teamed up with Chilstone to exhibit at the Landscape show at Olympia in March. The sculptor first exhibited with Chilstone at last year’s Penshurst Show where she discovered how her extraordinary glass like sculptures looked on Chilstone pedestals.

Jane has been commissioned to sculpt famous names including The late gardener Percy Thrower, Linda McCartney, the cartoon character Andy Capp, The Queen Mother and Steeplejack Fred Dibnah among others. A fantastic collection of important statues.

Jane has chosen Chilstone pedestals for her work because of the quality and the texture (a great foil to the smooth surface of her work).There is a lot to pedestal work and Chilstone have a full range to choose from.

Janes work can be seen at the Landscape Show, The Grand Hall, Olympia London from Thursday March 15th until Saturady March 17th. for details see www.landscapeshow.co.uk

For more about Jane see www.janerobbins.com

Restored glory (on the left) old glory (on the right)

One of the great pleasures of our trade is the opportunity to repair the damage done to fine old stonework over the centuries. Many castles and fine houses in England have benefitted from the skill of our craftsmen. Indeed, a keen eyed observer will even notice a Chilstone planter in the close of Westminster Abbey!

The above are a pair of heraldic voussoirs (Keystones) . One was brought to Chilstone in 3 pieces and the other is a replica created by our craftsman John Hallett. The ecutcheon stood the worst that nature could throw at her over three centuries until she slowly crumbled into the sorry state you see (above). Fortunately, John was able to reverse the passage of time and restore the noble shield to its former glory – entirely by hand – in our Langton Green workshops. It will now take its place above the main entrance of Howbury Hall where we hope it will remain for many more years.

We are able to copy or repair many such items, so if your castle is looking like its been manhandled  by a particularly brutal invader – give us a call and we will soon sort it out.

Come on down to see the excellent offers still to be had at our great Reclamation Sale. There are really fabulous offers such as The Chelsea Garden House we used at The RHS Chelsea Garden Show – a unique once-in-a-lifetime chance to own this charming temple for £3500 -  that is a huge saving of £3000! That is just one of the great deals on offer. We have fountains, pool surrounds, statues and planters – all at never-to-be-repeated prices – many at HALF PRICE.

Some pieces have been beautifully weathered in our show gardens and are still being sold at a reduction even though weathering is a highly desirable effect. See our Millennia statue, our chelsea bench and many other weathered pieces.

We are also offering ‘plugs’ – several items that have been used as originals for casting – all at great reductions.

Plus many more interesting items, including an array of architectural stone including columns, pier capitals and even stone fireplaces! t is a great sale and there is sure to be something that you have always wanted – but did not know where to find it.

Nearing completion, a charming formal Italian garden

In recent years we have taken some modest pride in sending a shipment of columns to sunny Greece and jolly nice they looked too, but we were just as thrilled this month to send one of our classically inspired fountains to Rome itself!

Our Kew fountain is one of our most popular fountains, but imagine our delight to provide a Kew fountain for a delightful Roman garden. Seen here and designed by David Davis.

Look after your fountains this winter. Always turn off your fountain when the frosts come and leave a tennis ball in the bowl to stop ice forming.

This weekend and throughout October come down to our workshops and showgardens in Langton Green (near Tunbridge Wells) and see if you can land a bargain!

There are many architectural stone and garden ornament bargains – many at HALF PRICE or more. There are seats, planters, statues all at great prices. Watch out too for the temple we built for our medal winning garden at the Chelsea Flower Show – it could be yours!

It is going to be glorious weather so why not pop in and have a look around our fine collection of fountains or walk around our beautiful lake – it’s free and you are welcome (and your dog!). Why not stop off at the Spotted Dog on your way home for lunch and make a day of it?

Picture courtesy of Friends of Penshust Church

Saturday night Sept 24th was the scene of Chilstone’s first Jazz by The Lake evening event. The evening was hailed as a great success by the guests and ‘wonderful’ by many of the happy revellers. It is the first time that we have opened our showgardens by night and the venue was illuminated by hundreds of small wind proof candles. The effect was stunning, as the evening was balmy and still – perfect for an evening in the forest with friends.

The event was fully attended with long tables and candles lining the banks of our large private lake (see above). The music, by the well known Martin Nicholls band was sweet indeed as it wafted across the still waters and made for a perfect evening. Many people brought their own picnics but more were tempted by excellent food and drink provided by voluteers from the nearby Spotted Dog inn near Penshurst.

The event was organised by Bob Atkins of the Friends of Penshurst Church and generously sponsored by Creasey’s the accountants and all proceeds are going to the fund to protect the venerable Penshurst Church.

There was another event at the Chilstone showgardens the following day that featured a remarkable collection of circus style acts including a tightrope walking mannekin, two intrepid travellers living inside a giant wheel  and puppets enjoying a day by the seaside (Take the Pose). There was more music provided by a sensational young persons Jazz band (Trading Forks), a talented opera singer and our very own accordion player Ron Meads and his dog Poppy. Hundreds of people attended this event in aid of Friends of Penshurst Church. Great thanks to all the volunteers who took part.

And you thought weeding was difficult

If you have ever wondered what happens to the gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show, our expert gardener Jason is seen here busily replanting the lovely Whitebeams that bordered The Chilstone Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.

The Whitebeams were a very popular feature of the garden as the colour of the leaves attracted a lot of attention. The tree’s sparse canopy allowed sunlight to play over  the garden with a bewitching dappled effect. We were often asked how tall these trees will grow and shall have to wait and see! (Our expert thinks they will double in height).

An adaption of The Chilstone Garden will be created at our showgardens (it will need to be adapted to work in the new space) and we hope that it will give pleasure for many years to come.

Careful now!

Although the majority of our sales are in the British Isles, many people do not realise that we have exported Chilstone all over the world. Our latest exports have mainly been to the USA (here is a large consignment of urns going off to our agents in New England and a customer in Texas)but recent consignments have gone to Japan, Mexico, Barbados and New Zealand.  Because of the great weights involved, we need to send the shipments over land and sea and so need to pack them very carefully.

Looks like he knows the drill

Here are some pictures of the kind of specialised work needed to export our statuary. For large orders a specialist team are needed as cases need to be made to order. Once the internal woodwork is fitted, the crates are filled and shipped out.

Another mission accomplished!

Iceboy thrills garden fans

Many people have told us that our specially commissioned ice sculpture was one of the best things in the show! We have to admit that it has turned out so well, we are thinking of making some more!

We usually make this statue in composite stone, but we needed to find a way to make the statue in ice to match the chilled out theme of the garden – naturally it could not just melt so we eventually hit on the idea of molding the piece in high performance polycarbonates. Then we simply found a mad scientist and voila! There we are.

The iceboy is super realistic and is a permanent piece – even withstanding the effects of UV radiation. Better yet, it can be uplit at night or in an interior setting. The iceboy is currently unique but there are strong rumours that he has been sold already so watch this space.

A superinjunction prevents me from revealing any more.

So many people came to see The Chilstone Garden

Great news! The fab Chilstone Garden was awarded a Silver Medal at the World’s greatest flower show. The medal is yet another award for the talented designer Heather Appleton and is pretty amazing for her first attempt at this great show. All of the Chelsea gardens are designed by top designers, so it is great to get an award as well – its like the olympics, just being there is good.

The garden attracted a lot of attention from the broadcast media and there has been a lot of coverage on the BBC and international channels. Crowds have been teeming around the site and we have had newspaper coverage as well – when they have not been writing about Diarmuid Gavin that is!

The whole garden looked spectacular and we saw lots of celebrities at the Press Day including Ringo Starr. We asked Ringo if we could photograph him but he declined saying that “he had never been a fan of the Stones”.

Made up the last bit.