Allett Mowers announces Creative Lawn Stripes Champion 

Now in its 10th year, the Allett Mowers annual Creative Lawn Stripes Competition, which offers an Allett Liberty 43 mower with all cartridges and two cartridge stands, has once again attracted entries from all over the world – but only one lucky winner gets to take a shiny new mower home.  

Allett knows that the past few years have been tough for everyone, but what they have noticed is an increase in the time that lawn-care enthusiasts spend in their gardens. The aim of the competition is to encourage homeowners to use their lawns to design the most creative, eye-catching designs that truly show off the craftsmanship and dedication that goes into grass maintenance.  

The standard of this year’s entries has again been exceptional, and it gets better year after year. This year’s judge was the winner of Allett’s 2021 competition, Dennis West from Provo, Utah, the USA following an internal vote done by a specialist Allett panel with the top six entries forwarded to Dennis to choose the winner.  

“It was an honour to be asked to judge this year’s competition. The top six presented some very strong entries, all of which show love for lawn creativity. Picking one winner was a tough job, but after analysing the entries I found one that, for me, embodied not only lawn striping creativity, but also a representation of the beauty of the United Kingdom.” – Dennis West   

The top six entries came from England, Wales, Australia and Canada and the 2022 Champion are Edward Aitken, Head Gardener at Cornbury House, Oxfordshire. A private estate in the town of Charlbury, fifteen miles from Oxford, England, Cornbury Park includes 1,700 acres of the most ancient forest in Britain and is host to events such as the award-winning Wilderness Festival and charity fundraisers.  

Ed has entered the Allett competition three times and has been placed in the top six each time. The judges’ comments praised the standard achieved this year, in particular with the mix of patterns utilised.  

“The combination of radiating, straight, and angled stripes in this expansive design brings to mind the sectional features of an aerial image of the English countryside with rolling hills divided by rock walls. The strong stripes that seamlessly blend from curved forms to straight demonstrate expertise that ensured the final design met very particular standards of perfection.”  

Working with a historical lawn that he’s been renovating to get up to standard, Ed describes the process that led up to his win. Citing the lawn’s central helicopter landing area as the inspiration for his design, Ed wanted to make the garden look amazing for the family he works for when they’re eating outside. 

“It was cut with a ride-on originally, which didn’t pick up the grass clippings, so it was a bit of a mess. Now we cut with a Hayter 56 at various heights of cut. I changed the height depending on what part of the lawn I was cutting. The circle area has to be cut higher compared to the area closest to the house just because of the thickness of the lawn and how much thatch is left in the lawn. Each different pattern is cut at a different height, which helped to show off the pattern a bit more.”  

After a year of hard work, Ed is finally pleased with the look of the lawn, but getting there was no easy task.  

“I cut it once a week with certain areas cut twice a week, so the central checkerboard area is cut twice a week in a different direction. I’m delighted to win as I’ve entered three times now. I was third the first time, and second the last time. I thought I’d stand a chance this year with the circles making it an interesting lawn, so I’m very pleased to have won. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the prize. I’ll probably use it in my own garden at home as I’ve got quite a large lawn. Maybe I will start doing some patterns!”  

Competition judge Dennis West’s final comment was to offer congratulations to all the finalists, as making it making this far is quite an accomplishment in and of itself.  

“Most of the winners in recent years entered more than once before winning the prize, so keep entering and you may be next!”  

Placing in 2^nd, Paul Wigman, from Nottingham, entered the lawn he works with as the Head Gardener at Clumber Lodge. Leading the eye around the fine landscaping features, Paul has managed to create paths that you really want to follow. 

In 3^rd place, you can find gardener Emile Hernandez’s concentric circles design, achieved in only two days at Somerville College Oxford. 

Placing 4^th, Simon Rice, from South Australia, pulled together a crisp design complemented by three different stripes that create an “understated complexity”. 

In 5^th place, you can find Dan Milne’s work, all the way from Canada. Proving that even the smallest lawn can be a beacon of creativity. Inspired by YouTube projects, Dan is hoping to climb up the ranks at next year’s competition. 

And, last but never least, in 6^th place, from Wales, we’ve got Tom Frampton’s lawn, an intricate design on the gardens of Llandough Castle, dating back to the 11^th century. 

Have you got a taste for lawn designs? Do you like getting creative with a mower? Get in touch and let us know in the comments below – we’re always delighted to hear back from our readers.