SPARSHOLT College students have visited Wadworth Brewery to help them develop ideas for the forthcoming Chelsea Flower Show.

The brewery has sponsored the team of 14 extended diploma horticulture students who have designed every aspect the garden which features heritage hops as its theme.

Horticulture lecturer Chris Bird, who is leading the team, said: “The initial research is an important part of the design process. Having visited the brewery, the students then sat down to come up with a design that worked for our stand in the Discovery Zone of the show.

“As students of horticulture, they are concerned about the conservation of plant varieties for the future, and hops have so much heritage surrounding them that their cultivation is a window into the social history of past centuries. Beer was once the only safe drink as water was often contaminated, and it is still part of the fabric of our national identity.”