| Set against the majestic backdrop of Hampton Court Palace, this
flower show is the perfect day out for all the family looking to soak up the great outdoors.
Combining
inspiration, innovation, quality and creativity
the show features a spectacular collection of show
gardens, horticultural exhibitors and gardening
accessories. |
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| The world’s largest annual gardening show is renowned for providing a taste of the good life, with more “grow your own” inspiration than any other UK event and an abundance of green initiatives and topical features. In recent years it has gained a reputation for providing some of the world’s best conceptual gardens.
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Hampton Court Palace Flower Show offers over 600 shopping opportunities, ideas for growing in small spaces or large gardens, features bursting with fruit and vegetables, a Cookery Theatre and traditional, modern and contemporary ideas.
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| Finally, the vast setting of the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, which encircles the Long Water canal, has the Palace as its backdrop, and is surrounded by acres of park land, makes it the perfect place to escape and find everything you need to make the best of your life outdoors. |
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This action-packed show is a great inspiration
for gardeners of all abilities offering
environmental initiatives for the home and
garden. |
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The Royal Horticultural Society’s Hampton Court Palace Flower show will unfold for the 22nd time this summer, taking over the palace grounds with a lavish feast for the senses. A yearly spectacle spanning 34 acres, it is the UK’s biggest gardening show and has grown into a British cultural institution that is sure to delight both young and old green-fingered visitors.
Visitors will be able to explore the RHS Edible Garden and witness artisanal production methods first-hand - from hop pickers on stilts to the art of bee-keeping. Show Gardens will offer an arresting display of colour and design while this year's Conceptual Gardens will stimulate mind and body alike, tackling themes as wide-reaching as cancer, the human thought process, and life in a technologically connected world. A literary touch will be found in the Poets' Gardens, dedicated to the works of Keats, Byron, Lewis Carroll, and other British greats. Plant Heritage will be on hand to breathe life into selected chapters of plant history and geography in its 'Living Library of Garden Plants', and a shopping experience to make any green thumb and plant lover's heart accelerate will be offered in the Floral Marquee.
A stunning new feature this year will see the bank of the Long Water transformed into the set of an Indian summer wedding. Visitors will be immersed in the customs and rituals of these rich and vibrant events which will include a mandap (a traditional Indian wedding pavilion), a giant Ganesh statue made of flowers and greenery. Stands will offer associated activities and ceremonies such as an Indian wedding shopping experience, the exchanging of floral garlands, Mehendi (Henna) art, Indian food and live performing musicians, dancers and fashion shows. The various plants that play central roles in the rituals (henna, tea plants, rice and turmeric) will all be interwoven in the displays.
Over the weekend, 9th and 10th July, the Children’s Zone will have performers and will host a range of interactive and fun activities for children of all ages.
The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2011's sumptuous bouquet of handpicked displays and activities promises one of the summer’s most exhilarating days out.
This Year's Highlights:
The RHS Edible Garden
The RHS Edible Garden will present a fantastic range of beautiful plants which amazingly, all have an end use, mostly as an edible crop.
Designed by Jon Wheatley and Anita Foy, the RHS Edible Garden will provide a special focus on the artisanal methods by which plants are transformed into the things we use and consume. There will be a cider orchard and cider press; traditional hops pickers on stilts and ale brewing demonstrations; beehives and honey-collecting bee-keepers; a nut orchard and nut oil pressing; an olive grove inter-planted with lavender yielding essential and edible oils and even a vineyard. There is also a ‘food for free’ area, where the adventurous can learn more about wild plants that can be foraged for food such as hawthorn, hazel, elderflower and brambles. For the slightly more traditionalist, there will also be a garden house with a fruit cage, ornamental vegetables, and a selection of herbs and edible and medicinal flowers combine to provide a crescendo of colour and texture. Here the RHS team will be on hand to provide advice and inform visitors.
Conceptual Gardens, Show Gardens and 'Small' Gardens
Using garden design as a medium of communication, these microcosmic creations will inspire, inform and enchant. Visitors will step into another world and take a trip through the experiences of medical conditions, be given lessons on sustainability and invited to reconcile the natural world with our fast-paced technology-dominated lives.
Poets’ Gardens
Ranging from more literal interpretations of the light and dark emotions of Lord Byron's Love's Last Adieu and the ocean of John Keats' On the Sea to more abstract depictions of the feeling of waiting and search for solace of Rudyard Kipling's My Boy Jack and the facing down of fears inspired by Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, these gardens are poetry brought to tangible life in unusual and unexpected ways.
Shopping
Visitors will be able to choose from the many thousands of plants, to buy and take home on the day. As well as this, with over 600 shopping opportunities available visitors will be spoilt for choice and can literally shop ’til they drop. A plant crèche and porter facility will help gardeners to shop with ease throughout the day.
Exclusive Preview Evening (4 July 2010, 5.30pm-10.30pm)
Having explored the Show, visitors can relax with a pre-booked luxury picnic hamper from Villandry and enjoy a summer garden party, culminating in a spectacular firework finale. Tickets are £55 for non members and £50 for members. |
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| The
Showground |
Ticket
Prices... |
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| The
magnificent setting of Hampton Court Palace is a
sumptuous backdrop for the world’s largest
annual flower show. |
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| A
garden recreated in the style of Henry VIII's
gardens of 1536. In the background is William
III's Banqueting House of 1700. |
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*
Tickets must be booked in advance
** Sunday tickets are for 10am-5.30pm and
2.30-5.30pm for afternoon tickets
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| Member* |
10am–7.30pm |
3pm–7.30pm |
| Tue 5 |
£32.50 |
£20.50 |
| Wed 6 |
£27.50 |
£17.50 |
| Thu 7 |
£22.50 |
£14.50 |
| Fri 8 |
£22.50 |
£14.50 |
| Sat 9 |
£22.50 |
£14.50 |
| Sun 10** |
£22.50 |
£14.50 |
| Public* |
10am–7.30pm |
3pm–7.30pm |
| Thu 7 |
£29 |
£18.50 |
| Fri 8 |
£29 |
£18.50 |
| Sat 9 |
£29 |
£18.50 |
| Sun 10** |
£29 |
£18.50 |
| On the day |
10am–7.30pm |
3pm–7.30pm |
| Thu 7 - Sun 10 |
£31 |
£20 |
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| Getting
There |
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| Rail |
| Nearest
Train Station: Hampton Court |
| Hampton
Court and Kingston stations are approximately 30
minutes from London Waterloo, with frequent
trains. The showground is a 15 minute walk or
short ferry ride (£1.80 single*) from Hampton
Court station, or a 30 minute cruise from Kingston
station (£4.70 single, £6.20 return*). |
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| Tube
& bus |
| Take
the District Line to Richmond tube station, then
the R68 bus from Richmond to Hampton Court. |
| London
General buses operate Route 718, a direct route
from Central London to Hampton Court, from Tuesday
6 to Sunday 11 July. Buses run from Victoria train
station (Hudson’s Place, east side of the
station) from 9.15am each day. The last bus leaves
Hampton Court at 7.30pm. |
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| Driving
directions |
| From
Central London, take the A3 and then the A308.
From the M25, use junction 11. On the approach to
Hampton Court Palace, please ignore your satellite
navigation systems and follow the temporary road
signs. |
| We
recommend using the park & ride facility for
car parking, which is located on the A3050, for
visitors arriving from the M25 (see below for
further details). Parking at the showground is
available on the A308 Hampton Court Road. |
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| Parking |
| We
recommend using the park & ride facility, Apps
Court Farm (Red car park) on the A3050, for
visitors arriving from the M25 (use Junction 11).
Frequent courtesy buses run all day between this
facility and Hampton Court station; the showground
is a 15 minute walk or short ferry ride from
Hampton Court station. |
| Parking
at the showground is available at the Stud Gate
car park (Black car park) on the A308 Hampton
Court Road, and the Hampton Court Green car park
(Green car park) opposite Hampton Court Palace. |
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See
highlights of past shows in our gallery
Shows and Events Diary
RHS
Chelsea Flower Show
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RHS Hampton Court
Palace Flower Show 2009. "A Beekeeper's Garden" Show
Garden by South Lakes Hotels in partnership with Damson Design. The
garden is inspired by a sketch of an apiary in the victorian garden
writer Shirley Hibberd's journal, which sits within a garden of
flowers, herbs and vegetables which are attractive to bees. For more pictures like this Click
Here.
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RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2009. 'A Desert's Delight' Show
Garden designed by Jack Dunckley. A relief from the blazing, arid
heat of the desert which surrounds it, this calming and tranquil
oasis is lush with exotic planting from around the world and the
sound of trickling water soothes the mind and cools the atmosphere.
Sponsored by Bradstone, Breezehouse and Selcroft Printing. For more pictures like this Click
Here.
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RHS Hampton Court
Palace Flower Show 2009. "Teenage Sanctuary" small garden
by 12 Garden Design. For more pictures like this Click
Here. |
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