Engraving the paving at RHS Chelsea 2025

May 28, 2025

The RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden made a huge splash at RHS Chelsea this year. London Stone were delighted to provide one of its eye-catching details.

The RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden included engraved pavers and a dog-friendly lawn.

Designed by national treasure Monty Don, the non-judged RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden was there to inspire dog lovers, helping them make the most of their garden for their furry friends. It also included an affectionate remembrance of favourite pets, with detailing created at our Bespoke Stone Centre.

Head of construction team, Jamie Butterworth

Heading the construction team was designer and landscaper Jamie Butterworth. He’s often worked with London Stone and now runs Form Plants, providing top-quality planting to the trade. He was a perfect fit for the build, as his adored dog Hector is a regular visitor to Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.

Jamie Butterworth with Form Plants' most important employee, Hector

Planting in the RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden, Chelsea Flower Show 2025

The garden’s inspiration

For its design the garden drew on Monty’s garden at Longmeadow, well known to Gardener’s World viewers, and the behaviour of his own dogs over the years. Thus, it included a lawn for rolling on, shade, long grass and straight paths. It also had a “human” section, where plants toxic to dogs were highlighted.

London Stone’s bespoke engraving

It also included a delightful detail. The names of much-loved pooches were engraved into individual brick pavers. Look closely and you’d find Ned, Monty Don’s retriever, and Beth and Bluebell, Queen Camilla’s Jack Russell terriers, and her new rescue dog Moley. Fifteen names featured in all and it was important that the character of the engraving matched the time-worn feel of the reclaimed pavers. The engraving was carried out at our Bespoke Stone Centre, where years of experience have made us masters of engraving different materials.

The engraved names were discreetly distributed along the paths, making discovery a delight.

The engraved bricks offer a delightful homage to much loved pooches

A completed brick paver with Snuff, the name of His Majesty's King Charles III's dog.

Engraving challenges

The difficulty of engraving varies from material to material. Porcelain paving, for example, is extremely tough and takes hours to engrave well, often requiring several passes of the router. The pavers here were a much softer material, meaning that each took around 30-40 minutes to complete, but that doesn’t include all the design programming required for the CNC machine. Check out the action in this video of the pavers being engraved. And the pavers presented their very own challenge, as they had an uneven surface. This meant that letters had to vary in engraved depth, in order to look as if they were all the same. It’s surprising how even a millimetre can make a difference to the look. It’s finely judged measurements like these that create a high-end finish.