Turf keeps on rolling out as Rolawn marks 40 years in business

Lie of the land: Rolawn commissioned this sculpture at the RHS Hampton Court flower show to celebrate their anniversary.

Rolawn was established in 1975 by Leslie Dawson, who drew inspiration from some cabbage roots. He realised that you could shorten the production times for turf by growing the roots sideways.

Jonathan Hill, sales and marketing director at Rolawn, told The Yorkshire Post: “What happened was he had an old cabbage that was in a tray and he was tidying up and turned this tray out.

“The cabbage had formed a lateral mass of root and at the time there was quite a shortage of turf in the UK for building projects, sports projects and traditionally it took quite a long time to grow turf.”

Since then Rolawn has supplied several prestigious events and locations with turf. In 1978, the All England Club’s head groundsman, Jack Yardley, ordered Rolawn turf for Wimbledon’s four new grass courts.

In the 1990s they supplied Chelsea and Leeds United football clubs with 10,000 square yards of turf.

Delivering high profile projects has “undoubtedly” helped Rolawn, says Mr Hill.

He added: “High profile projects prove your ability to deliver quality products for prestigious locations and events.”

To commemorate their anniversary Rolawn worked with the RHS at the Hampton Court flower show.

Mr Hill said: “They were looking for like-minded businesses who had an anniversary to celebrate.

“So in conjunction with the RHS we commissioned a turf sculpture.”