Fresh ideas for the garden are just around the corner as the BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair returns to English Heritage’s Audley End House and Gardens, Saffron Walden (29 – 31 August). Inspiring gardens, high-quality plants, expert advice and hands-on workshops are just some of this year’s highlights.
Multi award-winning garden designer, Pip Probert, from BBC 2’s Your Garden Made Perfect, is creating the Autumn Fair’s headline feature garden. Pip’s Make a Metre Matter garden demonstrates how to make the very most of a small garden plot, with interesting planting combinations, pollinator and wildlife-friendly features, and some tasty edible plants. Pip’s design will combine all the interests of a keen gardener to demonstrate what can be achieved within a single square metre. Reflecting Pip’s signature style, there will be plenty of re-used and recycled elements, giving the garden a personal touch.
Pip Probert’s headline feature garden is designed to bring to life this year’s BBC Gardeners’ World ‘Make a Metre Matter’ campaign which encourages gardeners to transform a metre of outdoor space for the good of the planet. More than 13,000 eco-friendly metres have been pledged at gardenersworld.com to date, and Pip’s feature garden is brimming with meaningful metres to inspire visitors to get involved.
Find out more about Make a Metre Matter at the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Stage. BBC Gardeners’ World presenters Adam Frost, Arit Anderson, Rachel de Thame and Frances Tophill will be joining the Magazine’s editors and stage host, David Hurrion, the gardening expert, writer and presenter, for autumn gardening, growing and planting tips. New for 2025 is the In Conversation with Stage, an intimate space for relaxed garden chat. Host Ade Sellars (The Good Life Gardener) welcomes gardening guests including houseplant expert Joe Bagley, nature writer Nic Wilson and kitchen gardener Stephanie Hafferty.
Also new is The Autumn Table, a rustic-chic space for seasonal food, drink and table décor inspiration, hosted by BBC food presenter, Chris Bavin. Urban smallholder Sara Ward (Hen Corner) will be sharing the wonderful worlds of apples and cheese, with demonstrations and tastings, pairings and recipe ideas to try at home. Floral designer Shilpa Reddy from The London School of Floristry will be making dried-flower wreaths and Jordan Weston (The Bearded Botanist) introduces the elegant art of Ikebana flower arranging. Pre-book an exclusive seat or drop by to watch and learn.
Book onto one of the Autumn Fair’s hands-on workshops and you’ll leave with a brand new set of skills. Choose a mushroom growing masterclass with the expert Caley Brothers, bug hotel making with garden podcaster and writer, Adam Kirtland (viewfromthepottingbench) or create autumn bouquet floristry with award-winning flower grower, Kim O’Brien (@garden.with.kim).
Looking for ideas to take home? Head for the Autumn Fair’s stunning Showcase Gardens. The Association of Professional Landscapers celebrates its 30th anniversary with a large, wildlife-inspired walk-through garden. Local Saffron Walden APL member company, TKE Landscaping, will lead the build, supported by Billericay based Landscapes by Design, with a design by Paul Newman Landscapes from Welwyn Garden City and Sarah Plested from Bramley Apple Garden Design in Hampshire. The Association of Professional Landscapers will also be hosting a Landscaping and Design Clinic, offering visitors expert garden design advice.
Downing College Garden Department, Cambridge presents Seedlings, Saplings, Trees: A passage through a lifecycle. This Showcase Garden celebrates the role of trees in natural systems and gardens, demonstrating growth, change and connection to past and future generations across time. There are further gardens by Beth Chatto Plants and Gardens in Elmstead Market and Val Christman from Widford in Hertfordshire.
The Autumn Fair’s Beautiful Borders are packed with imaginative design features, eye-catching colour schemes for small spaces, and some fascinating back stories too, all inspired by the theme of ‘Cultivating Connections’. Adele Glaser’s Border takes the Alexander Milov sculpture, Love, as its central theme, where two conflicting figures try to connect. University of Sheffield student Enya Jacobson’s Border, Mycelial Threads, explores the hidden connectionsbeneath our feet. Bobby Gass’s The Secret Shade Garden is a secluded, wildlife-friendly nook that brings overlooked corners into the spotlight.
The Wood and Wildlife Garden is designed by Charlotte Hayden and Jess Rowbury from the English Heritage Historic and Botanic Garden Training Programme at Audley End House and Gardens. This ‘forest edge’ garden is inspired by the rich tapestry of species that exist in edgeland habitats, exploring two ecologically important habitats – broad-leaved woodlands and wild meadows. Emily Passmore is the Senior Kitchen Gardener at Audley End House and Gardens and has designed The Interwoven Garden, a celebration of the human relationship with plants and how people have used them for thousands of years, for instance for weaving or natural fabric dyes.
Charlotte Hugh’s Border, Conversation in Bloom, invites visitors to have meaningful conversations in nature. Lesley Johnstone’s The Harmony with Horses represents a summer meadow and natural hedgerow environment, suitable for horses, wildlife and insects. Rebecca Sheppard’s The Islands—From Rain to Sun celebrates the formation of multicultural families, inspired by her own story of learning about and embracing her husband’s Dominican culture. Warm, tropical colours contrast with cooler tones and a circle of water runs through the space, symbolising the connection between cultures, despite geographical distance.
Richard Bowman and Louise Biden’s Border, Where does your Sunday roast really come from?, steps back to Victorian Britain at the height of the great plant-hunting era with a message that edible plants aren’t limited to the veg patch. Stuart Lloyd’s Border is The ‘Making Sense’ Border – Cultivating Mindful Connections, a sensory garden that demonstrates the connection between mind, body and the environment.
The Autumn Fair’s Plant Experts, Lucy Chamberlain, Saul Walker and the English Heritage gardens team, will be hosting guided tours of the organic Kitchen Garden (bookable).
Plant and garden shopping is a major attraction at the BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair, with more than sixty specialist plant nurseries, growers and garden retailers to browse and buy from. From bulbs, baskets and water butts to tubers, trowels and tables, there’s little chance of going home empty-handed. English Heritage volunteers will be standing by at The Plant Crèche to store plant purchases for collection later. Donations are very welcome.
Feeling peckish? There are tasty eats and treats throughout the Fair, with street food options, the Good Food Market’s artisan producers, the English Heritage afternoon tea tent, alfresco coffee bars and cocktail stops, plus live bandstand entertainment.
Lucy Tremlett, Event Director at Immediate Live, organisers of BBC Gardeners’ World events, said: “We look forward to the Autumn Fair at Audley End House and Gardens every year. Whether you’re a keen gardener or not, its stunning heritage backdrop and gorgeous gardens and grounds make for a memorable day out. Inspiration and ideas are everywhere you look, from the seasonal Showcase Gardens, Beautiful Borders and plant displays to the stages, garden tours, workshops and demonstrations. The food, drink, music and company are great too!”
Louise Ellis, Head Gardener at Audley End, said: “Autumn is a wonderful time of year at Audley End House and Gardens, and we love sharing it with BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair visitors. There’s nothing our gardens team enjoys more than talking about plants. We’re particularly excited to be showcasing the hard work and creativity that has gone into their two Beautiful Borders.”
Advance adult prices for the BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair start from £24.50 (concessions £22.50). For an extra special experience, the limited-edition VIP Extra package offers dedicated parking close to the Fair’s entrance, a VIP Lounge with comfy seating, a glass or two of fizz, refreshments and goody bag, and extra talks by the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine editors and special guests. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine subscribers can enjoy access to the Subscriber Club Lounge, featuring extra seating, refreshment options and talks. English Heritage members receive exclusive ticket rates, with anytime entry, free parking and a free BBC Magazine.
All tickets include full access to Audley End’s grand mansion with its great hall, state rooms, dressing rooms, servants’ wing, stables and chapel, and the organic walled Kitchen Garden, grounds, gardens, parklands and children’s play area. Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome in the grounds.
Find out more and book tickets at www.bbcgardenersworldfair.com.
Julie ParmentorSource Brampton PR
