John Massey is honoured by The Garden Media Guild

John Massey VMH with his Golden Nisse Award; Poppy and Willow looking on.

John Massey VMH, owner of Ashwood Nurseries, has been awarded The Garden Media Guild Golden Nisse Award 2014 at The Garden Media Guild Awards ceremony, held at The Savoy Hotel London and attended by gardening celebrities including TV gardeners Carol Klein, Joe Swift and Rachel De Thame.

The Golden Nisse

John was voted the most welcoming garden owner by members of the Professional Garden Photographer’s Association. John’s Garden at Ashwood Nurseries has been featured many times in numerous articles in the national press and gardening magazines.

The Golden Nisse, described as a ‘very special person’s award’, was presented to John by garden photographers Michael Warren and Gary Rogers.  A nisse is a mythological creature that has its origins in Scandinavian folklore, typically associated with winter and Christmas. He is a solitary, mischievous domestic sprite responsible for the protection and welfare of the farmstead.

The Garden Media Guild Awards reward the talent, skill and inspiration of garden media professionals across the industry. Christopher Brickell CBE, former Director General of the Royal Horticultural Society and founder member of Plant Heritage, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award, the most prestigious of the 19 awards handed out at the annual awards lunch. Among the other winners on Wednesday were Alan Titchmarsh, who won the David Hessayon Garden Writer of the Year Award, and Val Bourne, who was named Journalist of the Year.