Wednesday 22 July 2009 - RHS Show - Tatton Park

A break from our usual routine found us not in the Alps but at home in Cheshire at the time of this annual event.

So we went along for the day.  The sun shone, except when the odd shower drummed against the tent roofs. 

The journey to and fro was achieved without much by way of delays.

We met Jenny, Gaynor and Sarah, and we extracted our wallets to make some indulgent purchases.

So we had a great day out.

But what of the displays?  Gardens.  It's a flower show.

Or is it?

The garden above is supposed to make soothing sounds in the wind.  Today it was mute.  Perhaps the wind was too strong.

"We'll have a Bluebird garden", said the people of Coniston, confusing Bluebirds with Bluebells.
 

The poncey effort below has something to do with one of the 'avant garde' designers.  Beardshaw, I think.

Occasionally, we came across some nicely laid flowers - they tended to be marked lower than their less practical competitors.

Some designers just had to muck about with the flowers, plonking insects, animals, dart boards, toilet rolls, etc, on top of their floral displays.

The design below got a gold medal and lots of enthusiastic media coverage.  I just managed this snap when the maintenance team was taking a break from reconstructing the tree, which had broken in half.

Inside one of the tents, there were lots of floral displays - flowers of many types - this one is a 'Gay Gordon' Begonia.

And here's a fine cactus, all of 40 years old.

Finally, we came across this immaculately laid garden with a perfect floral display.  Probably marked down for being too practical.