Chelsea-winning Sarah Eberle shines spotlight on Hampshire’s meadows

CPRE’s ‘On the Edge’ garden has won a Gold Medal and Best in Show at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026. Designed by Sarah Eberle, the garden highlights the vital importance of our urban edge countryside.

Award-winning garden designer Sarah Eberle has once again made history at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, winning Best in Show for CPRE’s centenary garden, ‘On the Edge’.

Designed for CPRE National in our centenary year, the garden celebrates the overlooked edgelands where town and countryside meet – spaces rich in wildlife, community and possibility but often under pressure from development and lack of investment and focus.

Chris Bailes, chair of the judging panel said:

“The garden achieves a beautiful, natural planting style that is difficult to accomplish, bringing wildness into a garden space with elegance and a light touch.”

For CPRE Hampshire, the story has a strong local connection. Part of the BBC coverage surrounding the garden was filmed in Winchester, where Sarah and CEO of National CPRE Roger Mortlock visited Cowslip Field on the eastern edge of the city. This site is connected to our Magnificent Meadows project, which aims to bring life back to precious meadows and species-rich grasslands, ensuring they thrive now and for future generations.

WATCH: BBC Coverage of RHS Chelsea Flower Show featuring CPRE (featured at 39m30s)

It was a wonderful opportunity to bring national attention to the rare chalk grasslands on our doorstep and the importance of protecting them. Meadows and chalk grasslands have been a vital part of the Hampshire landscape for thousands of years, offering ideal habitats for wildlife, as well as helping to reduce flooding and mitigate the effects of heatwaves.

During filming, Sarah spent time exploring the countryside so close to her heart. As she commented to Country Life:

“This garden’s mission is very personal to me. I am a country girl through and through, so I embody the same message and beliefs that the Campaign to Protect Rural England and this garden holds.”

Sarah also revealed her very personal connection to Hampshire – and to Cowslip Field specifically:

“I trained in landscape architecture in London. My boyfriend at the time had parents in Southampton. We used to come through here on his motorbike, before the motorway was built and they moved the road.”

“I’ve since lived and worked in Hampshire. My children grew up around here, it’s all very familiar. Being here in this meadow today, it’s amazing to see how nature recovers. It shows that people and places can co-exist healthily, which is really fabulous.”

“How we manage nature and how we engage with nature it’s just amazing and feels like a big embrace.”

Find out more about how we are restoring and protecting meadows by visiting our meadows hub.

Read more about the award-winning ‘On the Edge’ garden on the CPRE National website.