RHS Chatsworth Show

[SteveC2]

I have just seen on Twitter that the RHS are to launch a new show at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, in June 2017.  I had heard that the RHS and BBC are not working together on Gardener's World Live anymore, but this almost seems like a declaration of war. Wonder what this means for the future of GWL, a show I feel has been in decline for quite a while.  Cannot imagine that the nurserymen will be happy about having to pack up from Chatsworth to head straight to Birmingham.

Best keep my thoughts about the Chatsworth Garden at Chelsea to myself!

[Maggi Young]

It seems that the RHS plans a couple more shows, this Chatsworth event being one.  Some will recall the RHS  announcement, many years ago, or their intention to showcase a wonderful Scottish Show - that was the Strathclyde event, which lasted but a couple of years before the RHS retreated.  So some reservations about the viability of any new RHS  shows, even south of the border are not unnatural.

[Graeme]

cannot wait - its only about 10 miles down the road - GWL used to be a really good show but is now really poor - bit like GW to be honest only the bits without Monty Dull are okay

[Tim Ingram]

Interesting how gardening can create such controversy and rivalry - of all things you would have thought it might be socially cohesive. I think Lia Leendertz had it right in what she wrote some time ago in her 'Comment' in The Garden about a sense of division in society, and Nicola Stocken more recently about a garden making you happy despite the weeds and the chickens. Anything you write seems to backfire on you but Herbert Spencer's saying that 'The society exists for the benefit of its members; not the members for the benefit of the society' has a true ring to it which rises above much else. When you run a society though you do like to attract new members to keep a vitality there. This kind of works on an individual level and personally I find Monty Don very genuine in his love of gardening and way of putting it across even if he does tell me what I should know (and often do) already.

As a student in London I used to love visiting Wisley and the Chelsea Show (and Kew Gardens). For some reason I find the large Gardening Shows completely overwhelming but paradoxically still find Chelsea exciting, but too expensive to visit now. When I watch Gardeners World I am quite critical but then ask myself how I would present it? and the answer is I would present something different and complementary which is much closer to Natural History. GW doesn't neglect this, but caters to a widespread audience; inevitably as your knowledge of plants grows - your knowledge of the world grows - you look for something more specialised. What you really look for is the space to make your own garden and share that on a more intimate level with friends.