building could start a thick bitumastic base was laid on the roof, followed by a layer of loose brick and rubble that was arranged in a fan-like pattern to aid drainage. On top of this was a 36-inch layer of topsoil into which the planting was made. Water came from Derry and Toms own artesian wells. On opening day the gardens contained over 500 different varieties of trees and shrubs. The gardens were completed in 1938 at a cost of £25,000 and were officially opened by the Earl of Athlone in May of that year. Visitors were charged a shilling (5p) to tour the gardens and over the next 30 years over £120,000 was raised for local hospitals. Today, the three gardens look virtually as they did in the late 1930s. Many of the original trees, now covered by preservation orders, remain. Family, the Chelsea Flower Show and World War II By 1936 the Hancock family were living at 110 Sloane Street in Kensington, and owned a country house at Horne, Lingfield, Surrey. Ralph had purchased and restored the country house, which was a derelict farmhouse constructed in the 16th century. He also designed and built one of his trademark gardens using many of the features that have become familiar, such as a herringbone brickwork path. Ralph and his young family took to the country life. Ralph decided to keep pigs and, although he employed someone to look after them, he even purchased a pig keeper's white coat, much to the amusement of the family. The family house at Horne was sold by Ralph in 1941. Ralph continued to be a very successful exhibitor at the Chelsea Flower Show, winning gold medals in 1936, 1937 and 1938. The gardens constructed at Chelsea had moved away from the naturalistic rock garden style towards the arts and crafts style that is now more associated with his later work. One of Ralph's specialities became the use of Moon Gates, which he used both at Chelsea and a number of other garden projects. His 1938 Chelsea garden was particularly popular. A review in Amateur Gardening said, "Mr Ralph Hancock had one of the most ambitious schemes in the garden avenue; a model of an old mill cottage, complete with millstream and sunken garden, the whole construction being carried out in a most realistic manner. It was a centre of attraction throughout the show." As