One of my favourite days out of the year is Gardeners World Live, a kind of Chelsea Flower Show for us common folk!
This year we were even luckier as Mum won tickets, a free day out at my favourite show, hurrah!
The show is held at Birmingham NEC and covers a vast expanse of the exhibition halls inside, outside exhibits and the RHS Marquee.
First stop, whilst the feet were still fresh, was to look at many of the stalls in the inside halls. I felt like a child in a sweetie shop. Stalls with everything for the gardener but so much more – craft stalls, food stalls, tourism stalls.
And you know what I like – competitions, and this place was full of them! Many of the regional tourist boards had stalls tempting the visitors to their corner of the world to visit gardens. And to tempt me to the stall there were no end of weekend breaks to give away. The best tourist board stall was without doubt Tourism Ireland. Having visited Ireland for the first time last year, I feel in love with the Emerald Isle so I would happily welcome the prize of a weekend in the west of Eire! Fingers crossed.
After putting in a few miles around the shopping we stopped for lunch and what a treat that was. A fantastic array of salads which I am going to try and copy at home. Lime chicken with sundried tomato and penne pasta. Turmeric rice with prawns and pineapple. Minted couscous. Yum.
Suitably fuelled we headed to the outside section and were wowed by the amount of show gardens. Last year there were only a handful and I was very disappointed, not so this year. There were over 20 and all of a very high standard. We also saw Monty Don walk by, a fine strapping man!
The heat was restrictive, it was blistering sun so I didn’t have time to take in who designed what or make notes to go with my photo album. But you can find further details of the show gardens here. Hope you enjoy the photo album – it is very much ‘holiday snaps’ with a few of my thoughts but I think they have come out quite well. There were some very inspiring show gardens and I think they made this year’s show the best I have been to.
As it was so hot I didn’t do the RHS Marquee this year as it is always packed. We did look around some of the outdoor shopping and I spent a lot of time oohing and ahhing. There were so many interesting and innovative pieces of garden furniture that I have never seen anywhere else. All sadly out of my price range but as soon as I win the lottery….
Also on the outside was the ‘Compost Charter’ display, attended by the lovely Charlie Dimmock. A very colourful and inspiring display – it was great to see children taking an interest in the display. I’m putting in my order for a low cost compost bin today, why not check here to see if you are eligible for one?
Then it was back inside for the stalls we hadn’t done before lunch. Once again we managed to come away from Gardeners World without buying a plant! I am lucky in having some great nurseries close to home but at Gardeners World Live it is the crafts that I never see anywhere else that turn my head. I did treat myself to a hammock, a video clip of me getting in and out of that could prove comic!
OMG! That picture of you with Charlie, is uncanny! Charlie could be your mum!!!
Why do I feel I am going to regret saying that...Any way It sure looked like a nice day out.
Posted by: joss | 22 June 2006 at 05:56 PM
I don't think Charlie would be too flattered - she's only 7 years older than me lol!!
Posted by: Beki | 22 June 2006 at 07:24 PM
Your hammock ruined summer, you know, but at least you had fun doing it.
Posted by: Adm. Pooper | 22 June 2006 at 08:04 PM
Thanks for the tip about the compost bin. I'll be ordering mine in a mo. £6! That's about a quarter of the price in the shops. Such a saving is enough to make me forgive you for ruining the weather with your hammock buying LOL
Poor Charlie, mind you she does look a lot more than seven years older than you.
ps: it looks like you've hit the big time; you have a spammer ;-)
Posted by: Kate | 23 June 2006 at 09:42 AM