Audley End House and Gardens in Saffron Walden was the destination for 18,000 visitors earlier this month for the BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair, in association with English Heritage. From experienced gardeners to first-time growers, there was something for everyone with seasonal gardening inspiration and show gardens, tips and advice from well-known experts, workshops, tours and gorgeous plants.
Celebrating its second year at Audley End House and Gardens, the Autumn Fair brought double the garden inspiration and shopping and offered a host of exciting new features. An avenue of stunning Showcase Gardens, compact Beautiful Borders, and Association of Professional Landscapers’ Skills Competition Gardens by two of the UK’s top landscaping teams delighted and inspired visitors with achievable ideas to take home. More than 35 specialist plant nurseries, growers and retailers offered a superb garden shopping experience, with delicious food and drink to buy and try at the BBC Good Food Market.
Visitors to the Autumn Fair had the opportunity to vote for their favourite garden designs to crown a Visitor’s Choice award in the two garden categories. The visitor vote for Best Showcase Garden went to JJH Landscapes from Oxfordshire and Radial Landscapes from West Sussex for their drought-tolerant 21st Century Jacobean Garden. As part of the Fair’s ‘APL Skills – The Professionals’ Competition, the teams were tasked to build a garden in just 16.5 hours, with the clock counting down to midday on the first day of the Autumn Fair.
In the Beautiful Border category, visitors voted the Make It Flourish Together Border into the ‘Visitors’ Choice’ top spot, designed and created by Great Dunmow flower grower and community gardening leader, Cara Thompson.
During three days of the Autumn Fair, expert design, landscaping and horticultural assessors presented Best in Show awards for Best Showcase Garden (Lucy Chamberlain, Gemma Sturges and Kelly Fowler, An Edible Garden Through Time), Best Beautiful Border (Rachel Sporborg, Free Thinking) andBest Gardeners’ World Magazine Subscriber Border (Consuelo Franco,On Cloud 9).
Alongside the Autumn Fair’s plants and gardens, the stars of the show were Gardeners’ World TV presenters Frances Tophill, Arit Anderson and Adam Frost. The TV trio shared autumn gardening advice with the Gardeners’ World Magazine team at the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Stage and garden tales ‘In Conversation’ with Chris Bavin in Audley End’s restored Parterre gardens.
Visitors were able to shop, shop, shop from a great variety of exhibitors including Eden Swings with outdoor tables enhanced with swing seats, and Green Roof Shelters with their expertly created rooftop habitats. The Award for Best Floral Exhibitor went to W.S. Warmenhoven with their wonderful Allium display. The Autumn Fair organisers are also delighted to announce the second and third places went to Pheasant Acre Plants and New Forest Hostas.
Rachel Poletti-Gadd, Portfolio Director – Gardening Division at Immediate Live, organisers of BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair, said: “Audley End is a magnificent setting for the Autumn Fair and we were thrilled to see so many visitors enjoying themselves over the weekend. It’s been wonderful to see the extent to which Audley End, and particularly the Kitchen Garden, has inspired the garden designers this year, from the Best in Show Edible Garden Through Time, the Gold award winning Brewable Border by English Heritage garden trainees, Anna Johnston and Charlotte Seers, and our new Let’s Grow space, to the geometry of the Great Hall which inspired the winners of the APL Skills Competition. We can’t wait to be back next year with more exciting new features.”
Daisy Poole, Head of Commercial Development at English Heritage, said: “We were delighted to welcome the BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair back for its second year this September. The show was bigger and better than ever with so much to see and be inspired by. Audley End House and Gardens is steeped in garden history so it’s a privilege for us to be able to share this rich heritage and our own garden highlights with the BBC Gardeners’ World audience.”
The BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair returns to Audley End House and Gardens from Friday 30 August to Sunday 1 September 2024. Tickets will go on sale in the spring. Find out more at www.bbcgardenersworldfair.com.