Thousands of gardening fans have descended on the Three Counties Showground for the RHS Malvern Spring Festival.
The annual show, which is one of the showground’s biggest events, was expected to attract around 100,000 visitors over its four days (Thursday, May 11 to Sunday, May 14).
TV stars including gardener Alan Titchmarsh, Masterchef’s Gregg Wallace and The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades were among the headliners on various festival stages.
And there was plenty more to keep visitors entertained including huge flower marquees, stalls, live music, food courts and show gardens.
Show lead Kate Dufton said: “It’s gone really well - I’ve seen lots of happy, smiling people and that’s always a good sign.
“This year, our theme has been Gardening for Everyone. We’ve really tried to open up the show to different people so it’s not just the hardcore horticulturalists - it’s for everyone regardless of your age, gender or budget.
“Covid sparked something for a lot of new gardeners and we’ve seen that play out on social media, with people like Worcester Terrariums becoming influencers. So we’re tapping into things like that and into the houseplants market.
“We’ve also launched the Tips & Tricks Theatre because in this economy people are looking for ways to do things themselves, to fix things up, and they may not have a huge budget for that.
“But the old favourites are still there - we still have 190 metres of floral marquee and the wonderful show gardens.”
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Kate said one of her personal highlights of the show was meeting Alan Titchmarsh.
“He’s such a household name, whether you’re a gardener or not. And he is really nice in person, he’s like a ray of sunshine going around the show.”
She also said there had been a push to involve more local businesses and said she’d got in early to sample the delights of Hereford’s The Burger Boys, which attracted long queues later in the day.
St Peter’s Garden Centre in Worcester was also among the businesses she said it was important for the RHS shows to be working with.
Those representing the garden centre at the show said they’d had a great response from visitors.
“We’re a family-run business and this has been great for brand awareness,” they said.
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