Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

The first day of next month's Hampton Court Palace Flower Show (5-10 July), organised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), has sold out on Wednesday 22nd June - on exactly the same day as last year's first-day sell-out.

A combination of glorious weather and the successful start of other major summer events such as Wimbledon, have led to all 18,000 full-day tickets for Tuesday 5th July selling out the day after the summer solstice for a second year running. A limited number of afternoon tickets are available to RHS members for Tuesday 5th. Full-day and afternoon tickets are available to pre-book for all other days*. The show runs for a total of six days and regularly attracts around 185,000 visitors.

Ticket hotline: 0870 906 3791 (public line) or 0870 906 3790 (RHS members)
Online booking and show info can be found at www.rhs.org.uk/hamptoncourt
Tickets range from £15 - £23. Children 5-15 yrs are £5. Children under-5 are free.

The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is the largest annual event of its kind in the world. Set against the majestic backdrop of Hampton Court Palace, the show boasts over 700 exhibitors including around 50 gardens, over 100 nurseries and hundreds of gift and gadget stalls. There are seven marquees including two Floral Marquees, the Festival of Roses Marquee where a dozen new roses will be launched, the Growing & Showing Marquee housing floral art and fruit and vegetables, the Studio for Flowers displaying floristry, the Plant Heritage Marquee and the Daily Mail Pavilion, this year taking visitors through a whole gardening year as four gardens depict Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

* Tues 5th and Wed 6th are reserved for RHS members. All are welcome from Thurs 7th - Sun 10th.
Opening times: 10am - 7.30pm (afternoon session: 3pm - 7.30pm). Show closes 5.30pm on Sunday 10th with 'sell-off' at 4.30pm.

(picture above - Garden Vision's small garden at the Royal Horticultural Society's Hampton Flower Show. The garden, entitled Summer Cocktail was designed by Shelley Marsterson & Jo Anne Martin and has been awarded a Silver-Gilt Flora in the small garden catagory. Photo by Michael Crabtree/Troika)