It wasn’t until I saw it assembled today for the first time (without the roof or any of the joinery) that I realised just how impressive a structure our aviary is. Impressive, firstly, in its bulk- its huge, far larger than I had envisaged. Impressive also in its solidity- it is made of solid steel and the structural engineer who came to assess it today only had to whack it with his foot to conclude that it’s never going to fall down. Impressive, thirdly, in the quality of its craftsmanship- the detailing is astonishingly good. I will be very proud, when it leaves here for Chelsea, to think that the workmanship is all Cumbrian.

The next step will be for the steel to be galvanised. It’s being dismantled today and will go to the galvanisor on Monday, so that it will be ready for Philippa and Mark to view it straight after Easter, by which time the roof should be ready.

Philippa and I will freely admit that after a four month battle we were mentally prepared for defeat. The panel whose job it is to choose which designers will be allowed to show their gardens at Chelsea showed us no mercy at all as they insisted on three re-drafts and two name changes before, finally, today,  giving us the utterly delicious news that we are IN.   The original idea, of a garden built around a Victorian aviary, has remained the same throughout and we have sometimes struggled to understand the panel’s thinking as their requests  for changes made us  alter the title  from “A Bird Lover’s Garden” to “An Aviary Garden” and finally to “A Victorian Aviary Garden”, but however great the torture, the end result is worth it.  Quite why I’m using the phrase “end result” when we are actually only at the beginning is beyond me.  Will it all have been worth it when the medals are dished out in five month’s time?  I’ll be able to say on May 24th next year.