BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair
From bulbs to pond plants, gardening gloves to furniture, shopping is a major highlight too. Spring Fair tickets include ‘access all areas’ to enjoy Beaulieu’s extensive grounds, gardens and attractions, including the National Motor Museum, Palace House, the medieval abbey and Secret Army Exhibition.
Headline Spring Fair sponsor, Hillier, will be creating an impressive 20m x 15m neighbourhood of gardens that’s sure to draw visitors’ attention. Packed with inspiration and ideas to take home, Hillier’s design incorporates a Family Garden, a Potted Garden, a Cottage Garden and an Urban Jungle Garden. This Hillier Experience also features plant advice, a plant and accessories shop, a drop-in talks area with a line-up of speakers that are new to the Spring Fair, and daily sessions at the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Stage and Subscriber Lounge.
BBC Newsround presenter and keen allotmenteer De-Graft Mensah and professional gardener and writer Lucy Chamberlain share a passion for growing their own food, and areco-creating a Beautiful Border for the Spring Fair. Featuring individual one-metre spaces, the Border is inspired by the BBC Gardeners’ World Make a Metre Matter campaign which encourages as many people as possible to transform one square metre of outdoor space to support wildlife, nature and biodoversity. Make a Metre Matter supports the UK’s 30by30 target to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030, with more than 15,500 campaign metres pledged to date.
De-Graft Mensah said: “This year, I’m going to be encouraging people to make every metre matter and to show them how to design a border. Lucy Chamberlain and I can’t wait to meet people to find out what they’re growing. I picked up a space at my local allotments last spring, and this is my first full year gardening. There’s such joy to be found in learning from people of different ages, backgrounds and expertise. I didn’t know much about growing before but now I love eating produce I’ve grown on my plot.“
At the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Stage, BBC Gardeners’ World presenters Adam Frost (Friday), Frances Tophill (Saturday), Ashley Edwards and Sue Kent (both Sunday) will be sharing expert advice for the spring gardening season with host David Hurrion and the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine team. This is Ashley Edwards’ first Spring Fair and he’s looking forward to discussing balcony gardening, great plants for summer scent, and behind the scenes at DIY SOS.
Food and drink writer and broadcaster, Andy Clarke, joins the fun tohost the Spring Table. This stylish alfresco space will feature tasting sessions with Beaulieu winery, B58, New Forest distillers, 820 Spirits, and Spring Table sponsor, Regent Seven Sea Cruises. There’s more delicious food and drink at the Good Food Market, with artisan producers, a wide range of street food options, a vintage tea tent and live music. At the ‘In Conversation with’ Stage, horticulturalist Ade Sellars hosts a daily programme of relaxed gardening and foodie chat. Guests include Good Food editor and chef, Barney Desmazery, food and flower grower Helen Hutchings Cox, and BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Ashley Edwards.
Plants are the real stars of the BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair, with Showcase Gardens, Beautiful Borders, College Gardens, floral displays and 25 specialist plant nurseries. Volunteers from Maggie’s Cancer Care in Southampton will be hosting a Plant Crèche where visitors can leave their new plants to collect later. There’s a Wheelbarrow Porter Service available too for heavy shopping. Donations to Maggie’s Cancer Care are most welcome. Plant experts Lucy Chamberlain, Asa Gregers-Warg (Head Gardener at Beth Chatto Gardens) and Beaulieu Head Gardener, Kelvin Yapp, will be hosting tours of Beaulieu’s Victorian Walled Kitchen Garden and Victorian Flower Garden, and there are drop-in tours of the Abbey Cloisters Herb Garden with the Beaulieu garden team.
Award-winning Hampshire garden designer, Vicky Lincoln, and landscaper, Rob Woodhouse, will be creating a Showcase Garden called Nature’s Spa, inspired by the poetry of William Wordsworth. This relaxing wellbeing garden celebrates the arrival of spring and the promise of warmer months ahead, inviting the viewer back outside to reconnect with nature, to restore and re-energise.
For small-space inspiration, the Beautiful Borders are a hotbed of imaginative ideas. This year’s theme is ‘Once Upon a Time’, and entrants will be digging deep to tell meaningful stories through creative planting and design. Each Border tells a different story, from childhood memories of woodland walks to journeys of recovery and hope after illness.
The Spring Fair’s College Gardens competition shines a spotlight on the next generation of horticultural talent. Student teams from Coastland College, Dorset (formerly Weymouth and Kingston Maurward Colleges) and Merrist Wood College, Guildford are taking up the challenge to design and construct a budget-friendly garden that’s packed with interesting details. The competition’s creative theme is ‘Reimagined Traditions’ andaward-winning garden designer, Cherry Carmen, will be mentoring the teams.
New for 2026, the Association of Professional Landscapers will create a stylish outdoor living space and will be hosting garden design and landscaping clinics. The world-renowned Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens are designing a display border and hosting demonstrations and talks about climate-tolerant and sustainable planting. The National Vegetable Society will be hosting a cheery display of planted chimney pots. At the Spring Fair’s workshop marquees, visitors can make a fresh flower wreath with floral designer Shilpa Reddy from London School of Floristry or a bug hotel with gardening podcaster and writer, Adam Kirtland.
BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine subscribers and Hillier Gardening Club members can access the exclusive Subscriber Club Lounge featuring daily talks by the Magazine’s editors and special guests, a Hillier plant advice pod, refreshments and additional seating. There’s an additional VIP Lounge for VIP Extra ticket holders.
Family visitors can enjoy vintage games in the Spring Fair arena, the Beaulieu Monorail, daily falconry displays by Beaulieu’s resident falconer, and the Little Beaulieu adventure play area.
Lucy Ashworth, Event Director at Immediate Live, organisers of the BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair, said: “Beaulieu is a wonderful location for our Spring Fair and we really look forward to it each year. Whether you’re coming along for design inspiration for your own garden or to stroll around stunning Palace House, to enjoy a tasty lunch or build a bug hotel to take home, there’s so much to see, do, learn and buy. We’re thrilled to have De-Graft Mensah supporting the BBC Gardeners’ World Make a Metre Matter campaign this year. He’s sure to bring some fantastic ideas from his own allotment to inspire his own Border and Spring Fair visitors.”
Book tickets for the BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair at www.bbcgardenersworldfair.com. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine subscribers and Hillier Garden Club members enjoy discounted tickets. Parking is free and well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome in outside areas.
