BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair
Romsey-based Hillier Garden Centres and Nurseries are proud to be the BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair‘s headline sponsor for the sixth year running and will wow visitors with their vibrant Neighbourhood of Gardens. With four distinct zones – a Family Garden, a Potted Garden, a Cottage Garden and an Urban Jungle Garden, this clever, inter-connected design celebrates the diversity of contemporary gardens and gardeners. At the Hillier Experience, visitors can shop for plants featured in the Neighbourhood of Gardens, get expert advice and enjoy talks by horticultural specialists like David Austin Roses.
Bursledon garden designer Vicky Lincoln and Rob Woodhouse from Solent Garden Services in Hamble are creating Nature’s Spa, a Showcase Garden inspired by William Wordsworth’s poem, ‘Lines Written in Spring’. This relaxing wellbeing garden celebrates the arrival of spring with a promise of warmer months and brighter days ahead, inviting us to get back outside to reconnect with nature, to restore and re-energise.
For small-space garden inspiration, the Spring Fair’s Beautiful Borders are a sight for sore eyes. This year’s theme is ‘Once Upon a Time’ and these petite, plant-filled plots have plenty of stories to tell. Seven teams from Hampshire are taking part, including New Forest garden designer Claire Booth with Oakhaven Hospice in Lymington. Titled Bob’s Full Circle, this Border of hope, love and community reflects the designer’s personal experience of life after breast cancer and the support she received as an Oakhaven Hospice outpatient. The ‘Bob’ of the garden’s title is a stainless steel sculpture of a fish made by local artist, Michael Turner.
Another Border with a cause is A Garden of Many Hands by New Forest Day Opportunities and Minstead Trust, a charity working with people with learning difficulties and autism. This woodland design is inspired by an original New Forest folk tale, written by the people supported by Minstead Trust and which imagines the origins of Furzey Gardens in Lyndhurst. The Border tells a story of a garden created, lost and renewed through shared care, and will be rebuilt within Furzey Gardens after the Spring Fair.
Southampton designer Katy Pomeroy’s Border for Diabetes UK is called Navigating the Jungle of Diabetes. This garden represents the uncertain journey from diagnosis, through learning how to understand and adapt to the condition, to a place of knowledge, support and hope from healthcare teams and loved ones to a place of clarity and confidence.
Horticultural students from Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Romsey have designed a Border called From Discovery to Legacy which celebrates the story of acclaimed plant collector and conservationist, Sir Harold Hillier, whose curiosity, discoveries and vision inspired the world-class, award-winning gardens.
North Baddesley food and flower grower Helen Hutchings Cox’s A Garden for All reflects her personal journey to reconnect with nature and community through gardening. The Border blends vegetables, flowers and wildlife habitats into one living space to demonstrate how gardening can nurture wellbeing, strengthen communities and care for the planet.
Eastleigh horticulturalist James Burness’s Enchanted Garden is a Border inspired by childhood memories of woodland walks and the thrill of exploration. Its message calls on adults to rediscover the wonder in the world as they did as children.
Broughton-based designers and landscapers Shaun Beale, Stacy Blake and Ethan Dodman from Woodslee Landscapes will create A journey to wellness, a Border that follows a pathway from diagnosis of illness through tests, treatment and hope to a place of light with recovery in sight.
Lucy Ashworth, Event Director at Immediate Live, organisers of the BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair, said: “The Showcase Gardens and Beautiful Borders are always a major highlight at the Spring Fair and create a real buzz. Visitors flock to them for ideas and inspiration to take home, whether it’s a clever design feature, an eye-catching colour palette, or an exciting new plant. It takes a lot of hard work, time and commitment to bring a Showcase Garden or Beautiful Border to life and we know that visitors are really going to enjoy this year’s fantastic entries.”
Alongside that host of horticultural highlights at this year’s Spring Fair are TV presenters Adam Frost (Fri), Frances Tophill (Sat), Ashley Edwards and Sue Kent (both Sunday) and the Magazine team, live at the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Stage sharing expert advice for the spring gardening season. There are floral and vegetable displays, specialist plant nurseries, hands-on workshops and garden tours, conversations and expert advice, garden and outdoor lifestyle shopping, a Plant Creche and Wheelbarrow Porter Service, delicious food and drink, tasting sessions at the Spring Table with local producers, live music, and activities for children and families. Parking is free and well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome (outside areas).
Tickets for the BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair are on sale at www.bbcgardenersworldfair.com. Discounts and access to the exclusive Subscriber Club Lounge for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine subscribers and Hillier Garden Club members, plus a VIP Extra ticket holders’ Lounge.
www.bbcgardenersworldfair.com for more inforemation.
