The Paddocks Spotlight: RHS Worthy Turf

With our Challock development, The Paddocks, creeping closer to completion, we wanted to highlight some of the developments best features. In this blog we put the spotlight on our green communal spaces. As you can see in this CGI below, there is a lot of communal space in this development, and we wanted a pollinator-friendly solution for this that wasn’t just plain green turf. So we looked towards using floral lawn turf as an innovative approach to enhance biodiversity.

To do this, we used the Floral Lawn Turf from Grasslands for our communal green spaces in The Paddocks. As a small developer we always try and support local, and Grasslands is a turf farm located in Romney Marsh, Kent. This turf is low maintenance and pollinator friendly, sitting comfortably on the line of aesthetic and practicality. The mix of grasses, clover, buttercups, daisies, and trefoil creates a rural charm while also remaining a practical choice for a low maintenance area. This lawn only needs mowing every 2-3 weeks. Interestingly, a version of this turf was also seen at the RHS Chelsea Flower show in May in a garden designed by Monty Don.

Monty Don is one of the UKs leading horticulturalists, with over 25 years’ experience in gardening and a healthy TV resume. Despite being a seasoned host, 2025 was his first year showing at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. For his first presentation, Don wanted to highlight comfort and familiarity in a new light. Naming his exhibition the ‘Dog Garden’ he highlighted his use of a ‘shaggy’ lawn to the average observer’s amusement. It’s differentiation to regular manicured lawn is the fact that its full of dandelions, clover and daisies. By having these native plants interwoven with the grass, it creates a plush and dense surface. Don imitates a regular home’s garden turf.

Being known for his stance against mowing, Don highlights the urge to let flora and fauna ‘do it’s thing’, and bringing this ‘shaggy’ turf to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is perhaps his most radical stance yet. Gardener Jamie Butterworth called the ‘Dog Garden’ authentic, and familiar. Which is exactly what we wanted to emulate when we create our own green spaces here at Clarendon Homes. Despite the shiny new lines of new roads and driveways we wanted to fill in the gaps with something people wanted to see. Why fix what isn’t broken.

By using this floral turf in our communal spaces, we’ve added another dimension of ‘home’ to our development. Its welcoming density will encourage natural flora and fauna to thrive, something often forgotten in new developments. Maybe an unexpected trend, the ‘shaggy’ lawn is coming back into fashion this year, and we’re proud to rep it.