Designer: Rachel Bishop

Although the agapanthus species originate from South Africa, the name of one, delightful blue variety, Castle of Mey, prompted Rachel Bishop to return to what has become one of her favoured flowers and create Castle of Mey.

The Senior Designer at Moorcroft has been in Scottish mode of late, and the name Castle of Mey, one of the favourite residences of Her Majesty, the late Queen Mother, greatly appealed to her. Co-incidentally, the same name also happened to be the name given to an attractive hybrid of the blue agapanthus flower. Castle of Mey is a structured design involving a clever manipulation of line and colour. If someone wants to use the word 'traditional' in relation of Castle of Mey, so be it. It has taken me a long time to appreciate the demands that structured designs would have made on William Moorcroft. I now have more colours to work with than William ever had, and that gives me an advantage, but I am loath to take it. Working on Castle of Mey was really an exercise in colour which was completed by necessary line-work. Many people think that colour is there to please the lines. In reality, it is the other way round, and Castle of Mey is a good example.