h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sometimes you wish you did a few more things spontaneously. Deciding which day to take off on the basis of the weather forecast, rather than booking a day off some months ahead because you'll save money on event tickets. So instead of going to Tatton park for the RHS flower show in the glorious sunshine on the thursday, you're stuck with going on the friday when the weather is forecast to be wet, very wet.
At least it was forecast and so we were armed with waterproofs, boots and wellies ready to brave the elements. It also meant that the show probably wasn't as crowded as it might have been.
As the worst weather was going to be in the afternoon we took a wander round as much of the outside sections before heading under canvas to look in the marquees. So down through the big flowerbed displays, past a large chineese dragon, regal peacocks, dolphins, horses, treacle railways, a market stall, a roundhead and cavalier, even Wallace and Grommet all made from flowers and plants. A brief look at some of the many stalls and some of the small back to back show gardens and we were back to the entrance we came in by. Deciding to head round the large show gardens, most are in the middle of the site we went round again, enjoying some of the ideas presented and thinking that in at least one garden the best bit was hidden at the back (a formal garden with a rectangular pool in the centre, at the back partially hidden behind a couple of walls were some turf dolphins). Others of the show gardens we weren't inspired by but some looked great - the princes trust garden looked much better than the pictures we'd seen on tv and the suttons seeds formal garden where everything was edible looked fantastic - why aren't our plants looking that good?
Deciding to head for some cover to sit down and have lunch we eventually found some space in a tent and ate the brief picnic we took (rather than buy a picnic there) - some nice couscous salad and a cake bought at the local bakery on the way. We did see people who looked like they'd gone to town with their picnics, lots of sandwiches and salads and bottles of wine being consumed. Back into the fray and we headed into the floral marquee. A huge huge tent with people selling flowers and plants of all shapes sizes and colours. Some of the displays were a marvel to look at from gaudy looking chrysanthemums and gladioli to recreations of cottage gardens and the exotic and other worldly looking carnivorous and air plants. Then across the short space into the Country Living marquee selling all sorts of goods designed to meet the needs of the cheshire set and those that wish they were part of it. There was some very fine looking stuff in there but most it wasn't our sort of style. Down one end of the marquee though is where the fine food and drinks stalls are, that was more like it! The last of the marquees we had a good look round was the national plant societies marquee. Here there were national plant collection holders, representatives of the national allotment society and landlife wildflower groups, bonsai and cactus societies and even the representatives from the highly competetive world of gooseberry growing and showing the Cheshire Gooseberry Project.
Deciding to head out into the rain once more we had a quick look at some of the things we had missed out on earlier. It was during this time we found what was probably one of the best gardens in the show, one of a set of small back to back gardens sponsored by AstraZenica Alderley Park. The central feature of the garden was a large wooden arbor built from tree and branches all covered in moss and lichens and under the arbor in a cobbled area were seats carved from the root of a fallen tree. Around that space was an are fully planted looking like the plants had been there for a long time rather than the week or so for the show.
Then it was back to the car to sort ourselves out for the journey home, a change of dry and clean clothes taken along so we didn't have to be in wet and muddy stuff all day. Purchases stowed away and the start of the slow drive off site and on towards home.

So what did we buy, plants mainly it is a flower/garden show after all. Some ornamental grasses, some ragged robin (bothe the normal pink and a white variety) and eryngium and a chilli pepper. Some seeds more ornamental grass and a packet of delphinium seed - I will get some delphiniums from seed! - as well as some edible munchy seed mixes. A bottle of wine (dry damson - very dry it is too).
Is it worth going again of course, you can't control the weather but you can plan for it and we had done so it was just annoying, not life threatening (as it was for other parts of the country on friday) and it's the only RHS show that is put on anywhere near where we live.

http://picasaweb.google.com/phil55494/RHSTattonShow2007?authkey=ctl3J-FkwYg
has some photos that I took at the show.

My favorite picture was number 16.

Thanks, that was round the side of the previous three pictures, an area you couldn't see from when you look at it from the front.