Is Gardeners' World Live worth it

This week Claudia de Yong took a trip to Gardeners' World Live. Judging by the following it seems she really wish that she hadn't.

Claudia writes, Today I drove up the M40 to go for the first time to the BBC Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC. It was a case of if you don’t go you might miss something but for me it was more a case of now I know why I have never been!

To get to any show at the NEC is like going to Ikea. The signs are dreadful, the parking , well you are sent round and round until you end up on the other side of the M40 virtually. Once you have negotiated the endless parking areas with a letter and number, you have to join a queue for a shuttle bus which never arrives so it is better to walk the miles to the entrance- that is if you can find the entrance. And like Ikea you can’t wait to get out and vow never to go back!

Once in the show ground you then start the wonderful game of trying to find where everything is and why it is so badly marshalled and signposted.

I didn’t realise that the BBC Summer Good Food Show and some sort of Beer festival was also on in the same place. I cannot believe the price to get in and the car parking fee too of £18,50 and £8.00 respectively .And the brochure which they gave free today was an extra £10!

The show I must say leaves much to be desired. The show gardens were a big disappointment and as Peter Seabrook has pointed out in Horticultural Week lately, the RHS really need to change the way the gardens are judged and by whom.

The show attracts a great deal of people who seem more interested in pink plastic shopping trolleys than plants. There are numerous stalls selling all sorts of things completely unrelated to gardening. There is a plant marquee with nurseries which was relief but the main halls featured a lot of gifts.

There didn’t seem to be any real focus to the show and the layout was very confusing. The food section was in the same hall as the indoor garden sundries and large areas were bare. I did see Carol Klein and Alys Fowler on the podiums giving tips on gadgets and plant advice as well as a few TV chefs wandering round in a daze.

I was surprised as I have said at some of the medals awarded to some of the show gardens. I never like to compare or be critical of other designers' work as I know the time and stress doing a show garden presents but there was nothing at all inspiring about the majority of them at all unless you want an old washing machine to be the centre piece of you garden as a water feature!

Oh and there was the double bed of flowers in one hall. A bed of roses perhaps? Hmm not so sure!

I have come to the conclusion that many of these large shows need to rethink their market and what they represent. Small local specialist plant shows are of course more desirable the gardener where they can get advice directly from the growers. These large shows are a way of making money for the organisers and no doubt many companies benefit from being there but I wonder where gardening is really going?

Claudia De Yong

Claudia De Yong designs

Did you attend Gardeners' World Live - tell us what you thought of the show and if it is worth the entry fee or attending at all? Maybe you enjoyed it. If you did feel free to leave a comment.