Flowers in the Spring
 

Would love to plan a trip to the Chelsea Flower Show next spring. Welcome any ideas about places to stay, and special things to do. I've never been to England before and would like to combine seeing the show and a some sightseeing. I love gardens, museums and historical mansions. Any "must-see" places?
My husband (good man that he is) goes along for the ride but does prefer nature and running "off road" trails. Any suggestions on keeping us both happy?

Never been to the CFS myself (but would love to). Would suggest you reseach how to get tix early.

As for "any must-see places" - I'm tempted to say "No" - absolutely not - all those visitors must just come to see nothing. But of course there are loads of wonderful places. Just be careful else you'll end up doing the "must-sees" that are the choices of people who just don't know that there are alternatives to the same old circuit (as frequented by organised tours and favoured by so many first time visitors).

Can I humbly suggest that you use this tool called the internet to hunt around? And maybe even look at that old thing called a book (local library and all that).

And then you'd be planning YOUR trip and not something based on the opinion of strangers who may have totally different interests.

Try google with the following:

gardens england

national trust england

visit britain

dorset
kent
devon
yorkshire

And for your hubby - Ordnance Survey England - check out all those maps of tiny roads. When you've done the CFS you get yourself some wheels and go explore the places less explored.

Happy travels.


wmthe plac thehybu

The last places on earth your husband should think of running are "all those tiny roads" He'll be dead or injured within an hour.

The Chelsea Flower Show is a huge, perpetually, crowded festival of everything you can think of doing in a garden. If - like me - you're not that fussed about gardens, it can be close to hell on earth. It has very little to do with Nature: it - like most aspects of the Englih landscape - is a tribute to what humans can do with it. Others will give you tips on the (tricky) logistics of getting tickets: let's think about your husband.

If he's not into gardens (it really ought to be called the Chelsea Gardening Show), he's probably best staying away. He'll not find much nature or off-road trails in London: there are good running routes in the bigger parks, but the surprisingly soothing roar of London traffic's never far away. I can't believe running and nature are his ONLY interests: if they really are, he's best staying outside while you give Chelsea two days. If they're almost his only interests, London's got good "history of cultivation" resources at the Tradescant Museum, the Chelsea Physick Garden and Kew, the world's premier botanical garden. But, like everything in London, they're seriously urban.

Outside, he really must avoid running on small roads. Precisely because they're small and twisty, cars can't see runners, and runners often can't hear cars. The solution is our 120,000 miles of public right of way across private rural property. Wherever you go, there'll be a book in the local newsagent called something like "lots of nice walks round here" Usually 5-15 miles circular, scarcely marked, paths across fields they take you right away from roads and people: once on them you really do suspect a neutron bomb's gone off and you're the only ones left.

Not much point recommending any: there's hundreds practically everywhere. So he can be doing his 25 miles while you're pottering round the world-famous Little Snoddering House fritillary lawn, then you can get back together for a pub lunch.


Others will also tell you why Great Snoring Manor might be more worth seeing than Little Wittering Towers. But what we're really good at here are the private gardens behind everyone's house: big, posh gardens are pretty simiar everywhere you go, IMHO. The trouble is that back gardens are invisible to other people. So wherever you plan going to, get to know the NGS (www.ngs.org.uk). This is a scheme in which ordinary people (well, the top 1% of gardeners in a community, so we've got no chance) open up their gardens.

Not a "must see" between them - though we don't really do must-sees in this country. But worth referring to wherever you go, in case any real people's gardens are open while you're there.

How about one of the other flower shows. outside London instead? The RHS now have an annual show at Tatton Park in Cheshire, around 3rd week in July. It's a big show, we've been to several of them and spent about 5 hours without running out of things to see (yes, I love gardening). It's easy to get there from Manchester airport and easy to park on site and you don't need to buy tickets in advance.

From Tatton, there are a wealth of places to visit. Your husband could even run round the deer park at Tatton. Within an hour or two you could be in the Peak District, Wales, The Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Chester and visit many beautiful gardens and houses.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/tatton/2008/index.asp

Npt8_Lass: I have been lucky enough to visit the Chelsea Flower Show on two occasions. The first time with my mum and the next year with my husband.
What you should do first of all is join the RHS. This allows you to book an entrance ticket for the two days immediately after the Royal Family has been. It's members only, which allows you yo see the flowers at their best and maybe is not as crowded as the following days. Yes, there are huge crowds but you get to see TV crews interviewing famous people, you rub shoulders with the likes of Anthony Worrall-Thompson & Rolf Harris to name a few.
The variety of what you see is unprecidented - not only flowers & shrubs but cacti, vegetables, new gardening tricks & products. You can buy seeds. You can lie on the lawn with an ice-cold Pimms and listen to the orchestra. You have numerous choices to get a snack or lunch. Even treat yourself to a posh lunch with champagne!! Now there's an idea!
I loved the CFS and can't wait to see it all over again.
PS. If you like photography - well, what can I say........

I agreee w/ Tod's post - Definitely spend the little extra to join the RHS. The difference between attending Chelsea on one of the Member days and a public day is hugely worth the expense.

On a public day it it quite literally so crowded, you cannot walk from one side of a walkway to the other. Member days are busy - but NOTHING like a public day.

Just down the road from the Chelsea Hospital grounds/flower show is the Chelsea Physic(k) garden flanner mentioned, which is sort a gardening/plant museum. A lovely garden loaded w/ things like herbs, medicinal plants, heritage vegetables, etc.

http://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/index.html

Pick up a copy of the Yellow Book - you can get it in any book shop in the UK (if you order it on-line, the postage is likely to cost more that the book itself) It lists all the gardens in the National Gardens Scheme flanner also mentioned.

Before we can give you ideas for other areas to visit, we need to know how long you plan for the trip - and whether you plan on driving when outside of London.

But in general - I'd definitely consider Kent/East Sussex south of London. (markets itself as the "garden of England -- w/ good reason) There are more gardens/castles per square miles than probably anyplace else in teh country. Sissinghurst, Scotney Castle and Great Dixter are all in that region.

Then there is Hidecote Manor and several others in the Cotswolds - which are west of Oxford.

Cornwall/Devon have some lovely gardens - but they are a long ways from London.

There are wonderful gardens in literally every part of the UK - even up in Scotland. (Drumond Castle, Crathes Castle, Inverewe, and Crarae gardens must be seen to be believed)

So tell us a bit about your general plans -- length, transport, maybe budget - and we can give you lots of suggestions.

I second the comments tod and janisj gave you. There's nothing quite like the Chelsea show. There are other shows through the year very worth attending, but they're not the same. Yes, do join the RHS and apply for tickets on one of the member days.

I have a suggestion that you stay outside of London in Richmond. It's an easy trip by bus or Rail/Tube into Chelsea for you, and your husband will have Richmond Park for walking/running. There is a paved walk along the river which will take you (both) to Ham House, an interesting property with house and garden to visit, as well as a Tea Room (very important part of visiting gardens in England is the Tea Room).

If you walk the other direction along the river, you will reach Kew Gardens, which you both will enjoy (and it has a good Tea Room/restaurant). Across the river, and also within walking distance, is Syon Park, another interesting garden to visit. From Richmond Bridge, it is easy to catch a bus to take you directly to Hampton Court Palace, where you will find a super garden plus a hedge maze, and there are several good audio-tours of the palace. These gardens are all very large, with good walking paths and 'trails'.

Richmond itself is a nice place to stay with plenty of places to eat at all expense levels, shops, pubs, a village green, film theater, etc. I often stay there when visiting London because it's not as expensive as staying in London itself. It's also an easy run to Richmond from Heathrow on the tube.

If you'd like to see photos of gardens in London and all over England, Scotland, Wales, etc, here's my website: http://www.gardentouring.fotopic.net/ Just look at the column labeled 'Groups' on the right-hand side, then click on any that mention England, etc.

Two years ago we spent a wonderful two weeks in England the last week in May and first week in June. We went to Kew Garden, but what we really enjoyed was staying in small towns and villages in Kent and East Sussex and attending their Open Garden weekends. We stayed in Rye, Much Haddam, where we had relatives,and just outside of Canterbury in Faversham. We also went to Canterbury Cathedral on their Open Garden Sunday and spent a wonderful day visiting the Cathedral for the morning service, Evensong and having tea in their six gardens open to the public only on that day. We also went to various gardens, stately homes and castles outside of Rye. We did all this without a car and used trains, buses, an occasional taxi, and rides offered by our very generous B&B hostesses.

We loved walking in the countryside- just beautiful at that time of year.