RHS Garden Festival, Hampton Court - A garden lovers dream day out

 

One theme this year was to leave grasses to grow wild to encourage  insects and birds hence the dry grass decorations on the sign

I think pretty much every garden lover has heard of the Chelsea Flower Show but I wonder how many have  heard of the Royal Horticulture Garden Festival at Hampton Court in England.  Have you? No? Well nor had I until my son, who lives near by, told me he had bought tickets to attend it and that he goes every year and loves it. So, on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning we set off, my two sons, two grand daughters and I, to find out what it was all about.

The grounds of Hampton Court are vast and ideal for this garden show, which is said to be the world's largest, covering 25 acres or 10 hectares. There we could see everything to do with gardening and outdoor life - for a garden lover it is a dream, a happy place.  The focus of this garden festival is slightly different from the Chelsea Garden Show (also run by the Royal Horticulture Society) in that it focuses more on environmental issues, hence there are plenty of displays on recycling, compost making, keeping the waterways clean etc. 

The flower marquee was the most colossal marquee I had ever seen and was the first one we visited.   It was just heavenly to stroll the aisles admiring the spectacular array of plants and flowers on display, many I had never seen before. I was inspired by how the various exhibitors had combined different flowers and colours to make eye catching displays. I took plenty of photos but now that I'm home I wish I had taken more.  It took us a good hour to walk through this massive marquee enjoying every minute of it.

After refreshments, very British Pimms for the adults and hot chips for the girls,  we set out to wander the outdoor displays. We were spoilt for choice.  There were show gardens, model allotment plots, talks, demonstrations, outdoor furniture, summer houses, and craft and clothing stalls.  It was hard to believe that the model gardens were temporary, they were amazing, inventive and artistic. and I absolutely loved the summer houses. It has always been a dream of mine to have one but I have never had the space.  A girl can dream, though, can't she?

A display garden - hard to believe everything in this photo is temporary.

An example of an allotment and bee friendly wild flower garden

My grand daughters enjoying a rest on an unusual garden seat

A dream summer house on display

It is impossible to take in all the Garden Festival in just one day but we did our best. Even after several hours of walking there were large parts we didn't cover but we were well pleased with what we did see and I think we all went home truly inspired.  I highly recommend this wonderful festival to all gardeners and garden lovers. You won't be disappointed.

Watch their website for information about upcoming festivals :

www.rhs.org.uk