Designer David Gibson's challenge for the RHS Flower Show was a tough one -- to create a garden for people who can hardly see. The result is stunning as JENNY SCOTT discovered. . .

IT'S a rainy Monday morning -- two days before the Royal Horticultural Society flower show at Tatton Park, Cheshire, opens to the public -- and the grounds are in chaos.

The paths are caked in mud, the gardens and marquees are arrayed in an unfathomable warren that would defeat even the most determined visitor and huge, snorting lorries grind back and forth, carrying with them prized plants for the gardens, many of which are still under construction.

Amid these scenes of confusion and commotion lies David Gibson's small, sensory haven -- a 6x4 metre Eden, where the heady tang of lemon thyme mingles with the soothing scent of camomile and eyecatching orange lilies vie for your attention with a shimmering glass bead centrepiece sculpture.

Entitled A Garden For The Visually Impaired, David's design presents a tantalising mish-mash of sounds, sights and smells catering specifically for the blind and partially-sighted.

It was inspired by a visually impaired, garden-loving friend of his wife's and, as such, presents a challenge to the concrete sculptures and spectacular water features in surrounding gardens, which suggest garden design is only about visual impact. The judges clearly agreed, awarding David's garden a bronze medal at this year's show.

David, from Walton-le-Dale, admitted the layout of his garden had caused him to think in a different way about design.

"The whole design of it goes against what I would normally do," he said. "I normally go for pastel shades, but here we've gone for the concept of contrasting colours. We've got very hot colours -- yellows and oranges -- set against blues and purples and we've also stuck different varieties of grasses in there because they're very tactile."

The woman who inspired the garden -- Pat Taylor -- has 10 per cent vision, which means she can discern bright colours.

"I've used colours she can pick up like orange and white," David explained. "We consulted with Pat when we designed the garden as to what she would like included."

Other features of the garden include giant wind chimes, raised flower beds for easy access and a sandstone water fountain.

All this is enclosed within the limited confines of a "back-to-back" garden -- similar in size to a tiny East Lancashire back yard.

"I always choose back-to-back gardens when I come to the RHS show," said David. "It's quite challenging to do a small garden and to get it right.

"You've got to get interest in there without it looking fussy and overcluttered.

"A lot of people can relate to gardens this size as well, because they may have a patch of land that's a similar sort of size."

The design is a scaled-down version of Pat's own garden, which David landscaped four years ago.

It was opened to the public for a weekend by the then patron of Derbyshire Association For The Blind, the Duke of Devonshire, and proved immensely popular.

However, the design is just one of a number of novel gardens David has brought to the RHS show at Tatton.

"We submitted a design when they held the first RHS show in 1999 and we've done it every year since then," he said. "To get chosen you have to do a technical brief to the RHS which outlines the specifics of your plan. There are about 40 gardens chosen from hundreds of entries."

Bronze and silver medals - although as yet no gold ones -- have come David's way in the six years he has been going to Tatton, thanks to designs like Tea For Two and Two Fat Gentlemen, which included sculptures of two portly chaps dangling their legs in a pool.

He also made the trip down to the Chelsea Flower Show in 1986 to help build a garden for Faberge where the colours and scents were supposed to reflect the launch of a new perfume.

"It's nice to go to Chelsea because it's very prestigious," he said. "But some of the designs are theatre sets.

"I prefer to design gardens people can relate to. Some of these things may look nice in a magazine, but could you live with it?"

David started his own design company, Garden Creations, eight years ago. Originally from Huddersfield, he has enjoyed gardening since he was a teenager but appreciates it has become big business in recent years.

"Certainly the TV programmes brought gardening to people's attention," he said.

As the lorries finally depart and the RHS show prepares to open its doors to the public for a run that will last until tomorrow, the mud has been swept away and the weather has brightened.

But all this means little to the coachload of visitors making their way to Tatton from the Derbyshire Association For The Blind, for whom the carefully-planned design of David's sensory garden will be what helps them smell, touch, hear and even see the delights of the show at their most glorious.