Blooming Marvellous
Well, it’s a beautiful summer’s day in Brighton and we pack up the FORD PHOTOGRAPHIC, erm, Ford and made our way to the NEC at Birmingham for BBC’s Gardener’s World Live. The weather didn’t dampen our spirits, not even the fact that my camera assistant didn’t have an aux lead for the ipod!, it was a road trip, interspersed with comment from Traffic Announcements of traffic jam’s we were sitting in.
Traffic announcement settings on your car radio, I’m sure it’s something that Alan Partridge would have an opinion on, as for me, they only service to tell me just how late I’m likely to be, as by their very nature, it’s often too late when you’re stuck in a 2 mile tailback with nowhere to go. I had once found myself in a traffic jam in Greenwich for 3 hours and most of this time was spent playing football with some people from adjacent cars, a few builders and some delivery drivers. Jumpers for goalposts, that kind of thing.
I digress, I wasn’t late, I’m almost NEVER late!, because we always leave in good time, a rushed project is no good for anyone, no good for the client, no good for my assistant and no good for my stress levels. It’s a creative environment and for that collaboration, you need to be chilled, focussed and methodical in your approach and the pictures just come running at you, almost out of nowhere!. I’ll stop there before I give up ALL my secrets!
So, we arrived, registered, set down our equipment, had a cup of coffee and worked through the press pack and our shot list and talked about the things we were expecting to see, hoping to see and not expecting to see. Almost a kind of media bingo game.
Gardener’s World, as you most probably know is a very well known programme made by the BBC and aired during a prime-time slot, so it was unsurprising that the hall was rammed by 10am and the car parks fast became near capacity. So car parked, coffee had, shot-list and brief discussed, we headed out into the expansive arena and started to explore what the show had to offer.
The atmosphere was buzzing, not only from the local bee’s and insects that quite literally had a field day, but from the people who came from all over the UK and parts of the EU thanks to the popularity of “Gardener’s World” So many stalls with inspirational and aspirational products, some amazing ideas and some products you just thought: “… REALLY?…”
We started by looking at what we expect to be at the show and there was one of the legendary front men, of the Gardening World, ladies and gentlemen, please be upstanding for ‘The Don’ of Gardening – that’s right, Monty Don.
What a lovely gentleman, knowledgeable and taking the time to sign autographs for fans of the show. It was lovely to see him engaging with his audience and it’s a testament to the professionalism of his craft. I have always been a fan of Monty’s work and it was a real pleasure to see him at the show. I stopped and chatted to a few fans who had come to get some ideas from the show and to see their gardening heroes and people from as far as Cornwall, Newcastle, even some people from as far away as Germany!.
It just goes to show that Gardening is a real passion and quite a few people were taking time out to come and smell the roses. In particular the rose stand in the Garden Marquee. Which was equisite.
All manner of items, from hot tubs, to rose arches, from kneeling mats to a humble pitch fork, if you could imagine it for your garden, you could probably find a stall.
We thought about these items:
1) A French Style Gites
2) A Ride On Mower
3) A jumping water fountain
The answer was Yes to all 3, we found them all. I was fascinated by the fountain, that had Las Vegas style jumping water, you could add lights and music and get it to move to the music, how cool is that?, as you’re sitting in your hot tub, admiring your ride on mower from the deck of your French Style Gites in deepest darkest Sussex!. Now the Gite was interesting, I would have take a lot of photos of this but I just didn’t expect to film interiors and architecture, so no tilt shifts and no super wide 10mm lenses for me that day. But yes, You could buy a Gites holiday or main prefab home, which looked deceptively large, until I realised that they probably used what looked like 3/4 furniture, either that or that was the smallest double bed in living history!, It looked gorgeous and all things aside, I would still probably buy one, if I had the land to put it on, that is!, which in the UK is the expensive bit!!
But going around the Venue we had our highlights and low-lights. One low-light were the solar powered lamps that were just too expensive compared to some of the DIY chains, in fact, there were quite a few items that were pretty expensive for what they were and although it’s stunningly beautiful and renowned, Moorcroft is not to my personal taste and in fact, I gave the stand a wide berth, just incase I knocked over a vase, which was reduced to just over £3.5k. How that fit into the idea of a garden show, I’m not 100% sure, all I know is that for £3.5k you could buy a lot of plants for your garden!
There were bargains abound at the show and not only varieties that you would normally find at a large chain garden centre, such as Dobbies or B&Q, Homebase, etc. but from smaller independent nurseries and growers, specialists in Roses, specialists in Lilies, Clematis for £3, all styles, colours, a brisk trade was being done at that stand!
All in all, it was an assault on the senses, the colours, the varieties and such an emphasis on the sourcing and preservation of local varieties, education and showing us just what can be achieved with a little thought, care and heaps of determination. It was inspiring. The English country garden is envied around the world, we have some of the most beautiful gardens and spaces in the world and with all that’s going on in 2012, it just feels that the nation is swelling with pride and it’s Blooming Marvellous!. There was bunting everywhere, people on a high from the Jubilee celebrations and the impending glory of hosting the Olympics. It’s an inspiring time and could you imagine walking into your local garden centre and seeing some of these blooms?.
Oh, so you’re thinking that these are only for the flower show and just to showcase what British Botany is all about?. You are so wrong. In fact, I chatted to a lovely person called Gilly Pollock, founder of the British Plant Nursery Guide http://www.britishplantnurseryguide.co.uk/ and her stand was rather Vintage, so I was drawn like a moth to a flame!.
Some of you may look at the cakes and think… Hmm, I’m Hungry, where was that Falafel stand?.. other’s may think, I think I saw those on Gardener’s World one evening! – and you’d be right!, in fact, I am reliably informed that someone trekked over from Germany to obtain a batch of these cakes!, they’re simply beautiful and amazed with the precision and the craft that went into these fabulous Chelsea Buns!.
Readers of my other posts know that I champion British Industry and it’s refreshing to see how grown talent come out to play in our marketplace and this stand embodied what we are seeking, a move to more locally produced products, money that will be kept in our areas and reinvested, rather than some flight of fancy to a hydroponics farm in Holland and this is where Britishplantnurseryguide.co.uk comes in, please check it out!, what an amazing website. You can book country Jaunts and picnics, meet other likeminded gardeners and growers, find out about plants and support your local grower, who, grows some fabulous plants and is probably a lot nearer to you than you think.
She also had for sale some plant pots. Yep, predictable at a Garden Show!. BUT these are not your everyday common or garden plant pots. these are frost resistant, made from Organic waste material. Corn Starch to be precise. So these don’t fall apart when they get wet like the cardboard ones and aren’t bad for the environment, nor do they shatter in cold conditions like the plastic ones. You can scrunch them up , get them wet, stamp on them and they retain their shape and when you plant them out, they gradually decompose. How cool is that?!. Gilly had some seriously great things on her stall and captured the essence of the quintessential British Vintage feel. so be sure to check out her website!
http://www.britishplantnurseryguide.co.uk
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