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Chris Beardshaw's Lawn Mower

Contributed by Gardeners Question Time

Chris Beardshaw's Lawn Mower

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My object is responsible for shaping the very concept of the English garden. Developed by a curious inventor who lived just down the valley from my home in the Cotswolds; engineer Edward Beard Budding spotted the potential invention while watching a cylinder of blades trimming the cloth of fabric destined for soldiers' uniforms in 1827.

Ridiculed by local engineers, Budding apparently tested his invention at night. Eventually emerging with the patent application that read "Country gentleman may find in using my machine themselves an amusing, useful and healthy exercise." The Lawnmower was born, changing the aesthetics, design and quality of our gardens. As scythes and grazing were abandoned, refined turf became the horticultural sorbet between bountiful, floriferous borders and exotic plantations. Without exaggeration it is possibly the most defining tool in the creation of an iconic gardening style.

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