The Woburn Abbey Garden Show, which takes place on the 21st and 22nd June, will have an official 'Show Charity' for the first time this year. Woburn Abbey is delighted to announce that the Show Charity for 2014 will be Perennial, a national charity supporting people who work in horticulture when they are facing adversity in their life. Perennial was established in the 19th century and is celebrating their 175th anniversary this year.
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| Woburn Abbey Garden Show |
Perennial will be offering unique VIP experience packages at the show that support their fundraising efforts which provide information on the assistance they can offer to those working in horticulture.
Martin Towsey, Estates Gardens Manager, is delighted to be working with Perennial: “We are pleased to be able to support this charity, especially in this anniversary year, and hope that visitors to the Garden Show will enjoy finding out more about what they do. Perennial was born out of the great estates like Woburn, supporting the estate gardeners in times of need, so it’s fantastic that we are able to help with their fundraising campaign.”
Visitors to the Woburn Abbey Garden Show will be able to learn new gardening skills, talk to experts, and purchase an array of unusual plants and garden items, all within the stunning grounds and gardens of Woburn Abbey. Gardening experts Pippa Greenwood, Martin Fish and Alistair Fraser will share their knowledge through a series of talks and Q&A sessions during the event. Top UK nurseries will be there, including Heucerholics, Nobottle Nurseries, Flit Bonsai and Palm Exotics. Whether you have a courtyard garden, a window box or a large country garden, there will be inspiration for every outdoor space.
The Food Hall will be filled with various refreshments from stalls including Breckland Orchard, Buckingham Brewery, Deli Vegetaria, and Friar's Farm. Pet Piggies are returning to the show with a chance to see some very cute micro pigs, and a range of artists will be exhibiting their work including Rachel Carter, Alistair Howie and Abigail Mill.
For the past ten years The Duchess of Bedford, along with Martin Towsey and his team, have been working hard to restore Humphry Repton’s original plans for the ‘Pleasure Gardens’. A newly restored feature from these original plans and a contemporary addition to Woburn Abbey Gardens will both be opened by The Duchess of Bedford at the Garden Show on the 21st and 22nd June 2014. Woburn Abbey’s RHS qualified gardeners will also offer guided tours of the gardens throughout the weekend, included within the admission price, giving visitors a behind the scenes look at the ongoing restoration project.
Tickets for the Woburn Abbey Garden Show are now available to purchase online. For more information, visit www.woburnabbey.co.uk or call 01525 290333.
The exotic plants introduced to Chatsworth by the intrepid plant hunters of the 19th century are the inspiration for this year's Florabundance festival. Now familiar blooms, they were the height of fashion when brought into the Chatsworth garden by Joseph Paxton and the 6th Duke of Devonshire.
Each room will be decorated with a different variety of flower from Paxton's list for the first ever summer Florabundance festival from 14 to 18 June. More than 20,000 individual blooms - including 500 stems of lilies, 1,000 roses and 500 alliums - will transform the house and garden with a wealth of summer flowers.
The 6th Duke developed an intense interest in horticulture after he met Joseph Paxton (1803 - 1865), a young gardener working in the Horticultural Society's gardens at Chiswick. He appointed Paxton to be head gardener at Chatsworth in 1826 and together they changed the garden radically, introducing exotic species and giant rockeries.
Florabundance will see traditional mid-summer blooms fused with tropical flowers to echo the naturalistic style of planting introduced by the Bachelor Duke and Joseph Paxton to the Chatsworth garden.
Led by renowned floral designer Jonathan Moseley, a team of 35 people will install the designs over a two day period after days spent preparing the containers, putting together the constructions and treating and conditioning the flowers.
Jonathan gives a glimpse of what the visitor can expect when they enter the house. "The Painted Hall will display a large open arch cascading with fabulous flowers and foliage featuring stunning summer roses inviting visitors to enter the voyage of Florabundance.
"From the formality of the Painted Hall to an enclosed bath in one of the bedroom suites bursting with frothy gypsophilia, the designs will illustrate a combination of both contemporary and traditional floristry."
Chatsworth will also host a series of demonstrations and workshops led by Jonathan Moseley in the beautiful 19th century theatre. Participants will learn how to create breathtaking designs and come away with lots of contemporary and classic design ideas for displaying flowers creatively at home. The floral demonstrations take place on 15 and 16 June and the floral workshops are on 17 and 18 June.
Florabundance is free upon admission to the house and garden. For more information and ticketing options, visit www.chatsworth.org
