Allett Announce 2019 Allett Creative Lawn Stripe Competition WINNER

This year’s winner of the Creative Lawn Stripe competition has been announced this week. Last year's winner (this year's judge) Keith Smith, said... ''I was absolutely delighted and honoured to be asked by Allett to judge this year’s competition. Then when I saw the amazingly high standard of entries, I realised what a difficult task this was going to be.The quality of the lawn entrants has been of a very creative and high standard this year- I don't think my winning entry would have made the top six this year. I have been so impressed with the standard of entries.-not only the creativity, but the technical difficulties that need to be overcome''

 

A panel of Allett experts whittled down the mass of entries to just six of the best to put forward to Keith for judging- the results are below. Lawn fanatics from all over the world (10 countries infact) entered this year's competition and if you think that striped lawns are limited to the homes of the British, you need to look at these submissions. Striped lawns used to be the preserve of the British garden, but now keen gardeners from around the globe compete each year for this coveted green award. The 2019 competition has been won by Czakó Erik of Hungary with a stunning and technically difficult pattern on grass of a quality normally seen in a national football stadium. Allett Mowers, British manufacturer of traditional cylinder lawn mowers based in Staffordshire sponsor the competition. “The rise in international competitors in this competition to win the award is in line with the rise in demand our company has seen for our mowers from overseas lawn-fanatics” says Austin Jarrett, Managing Director of the mower makers. “ This year the Allett factory won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise – International trade because of the increase in overseas demand and consequently our export sales.” The 10 countries our entries came from are as follows; England, Wales, Netherlands, Scotland, USA, Sweden, Hungary, Ukraine, Denmark and France. This year's prize was a Liberty 43 with ALL of its cartridges and 2 cartridge stands

Every one of our entrants has a story to tell- here are the stories of our TOP 3 entrants along with the judges comments...

Some quotes from our top 3

Winner Czako Erik from Hungary

'I wanted to mix circles and squares in such a way to show both of them. It's a simple pattern but hard to make it accurately because of the contact points of the mower. It took me three hours to complete in total using an Allett Kensington 14K. I work for a delivery food company and play football in league four. When I was a child I watched English premier league football matches and dreamt of playing on amazing pitches like the ones I saw on TV. In Hungary the pitches aren't as high quality as UK pitches so I decided to make a lawn like one. Hungary’s gardeners told me it wasn't possible due to our climate however I got advice from English groundsmen and my dream came true.

Judges comments: A striking entry with a linked chain theme. By combining a traditional and regimented striped lawn and incorporating a contrasting and mirrored swirl, Erik Czakó wins by combining a simplistic design which is technically difficult. The higher than normal height of cut has enabled strong stripes in a very healthy turf.

 

2nd Place- Nicklas Andersson from Sweden

I worked hard every week to create new and different designs. I liked the one I chose the most. I found a pattern on the internet and decided to try and imprint this into my lawn. It was really hard because I had to lift my Allett off the ground every stripe so I didn't ruin the next one. My family think I am crazy😂. I used an Allett Kensington 20K. It took me around 5-6 hrs and I also cut it the day before so maybe 6-7 hrs in total. I have my own company, a garden service company selling fertilizer/ seeds to private homeowners. I started my company 3 years ago before that I was a groundsman at a soccer pitch. Judges comments: Nicklas Andersson has created a masterpiece with geometric perfection. Technically difficult and incorporating height of cut variations for greater impact.

 

3rd Place Andrew Wain from England

Andrew is a private gardener from an estate in the Cotswolds and has entered our competition for several years running displaying high quality entries each time. My design this year was inspired by one of the gothic windows in the gardens. I used a rotary mower on the lawn. The design took half a day to mark out, using a tape measure and garden canes. I then mowed the lawn twice a week to get the pattern to pop. We host weddings here at Euridge, so the lawn has had an average of 150 people on it every weekend and it has also had two marquees on it....Oh and a baby grand piano. I have been the Head Gardener here at Euridge Manor for almost 9 years. Judges comments- This competition has enjoyed many Andrew Wain designs. This is another fine example of a tapestry incorporating both straight and curved lines across an expansive area. I'm not sure where Andrew got his design idea but it looks inspired by the surrounding architecture. I've admired Andrew's entries over the past few years and his entries are always of the highest standard'

Many thanks to EVERYONE who entered especially this year's winner Czako Erik for his AMAZING design. We will be posting a photo on our SOCIAL MEDIA channels of Czako Erik receiving his prize from our Hungarian dealers Agrolanc https://agrolanc.hu/hu/ Here is a selection of other entries from this year's competition