Sunday 24 August 2014

A Fruitful Experience

Strange? Not really: think about it in relation to the enjoyment
obtained from visiting the Malvern Autumn Show
Have you ever, when planning a garden, or re-thinking a plot, likened it to creating a patchwork quilt? A sewing together of seams, a melding of materials, a blending of colours, a loom-weaving of ideas into something which becomes whole-cloth. It’s much the same with staging the Malvern Autumn Show. If you were to see the Showground right now, you would observe a wide-open grid of gigantic grassy rectangles bound together by ‘streets’ and ‘rows’, interspersed with exhibition halls, buildings and permanent gardens. That’s the framework, a living land-map into which will be jigsawed five major ‘components’, each focussing on a different Autumn fruitful experience. ‘Grow’, ‘Harvest’ and ‘Taste’ all interlink - whilst ‘Relive’ (nostalgia) and ‘Experience’ will provide just as much inspiration for the months ahead, be it in garden, home or the great outdoors. The whole Showground will be jam-packed with inspiration and shopping experiences, the like of which it is hard to find brought together in one location.

Lubera 'Redlove' apples - Swiss-bred and available to UK buyers
It’s a fruitful experience for me, too. How I love to visualise that familiar blank framework (overlooked by the enigmatic Malvern Hills) and within my blogposts draw together disparate threads of information that come my way. How good it was this last week to hear from a new exhibitor who is inviting you to visit their stand and taste the forbidden fruit (my words, not theirs). Rich, red, tasty, juicy, luscious, appletastic apples!!! The ‘Lubera’ show team is very excited  to be promoting their beautiful apple range and specifically their ‘Redlove' family. So why not pop along and say hello and hear all about apple breeding and 'hot off the press news' of new varieties to come. You will also get the chance to partake in fruit testing and tasting. I already grow various varieties produced by Lubera, and believe me, they really are something. (Where:  Stand WH83, Garden Sundries Pavilion - meanwhile take a preview of their fruit-breeding programme.)

An appreciative audience in the Good Life Pavilion theatre
(image courtesy Stuart Purfield)
Further fruitful experiences continue throughout the Show, with visitors flocking to the theatre in The Good Life Pavilion.  Meeting well-known TV personalities ‘live’ is always a thrill and this September will be no exception as television gardener, Monty Don, is to head up the celebrity guest list, and will be at the Show on Sunday. Renowned as a writer and presenter, he is best known for fronting the team of experts behind the popular weekly gardening programme, BBC Gardeners' World. 

Monty Don
He will join fellow gardeners Joe Swift and Mark Diacono; and will be talking to Joe live on stage in the event's Good Life Pavilion, about all things gardening. He has presented gardening and travel programmes for over twenty years and became the lead presenter for the BBC flagship programme Gardeners' World  between 2003 and 2008, and then again from 2011 when he began hosting Gardeners' World from his home in Herefordshire. And that’s not all: Monty is a committed organic gardener and President of the Soil Association. He has worked with schools, and groups of drug addicts, to build respect and reward from working with the natural world, and has a strong belief in the importance of communities working together through an understanding and love of the land. He says: "The real importance of gardening  is the empowerment that it gives people, however small or seemingly insignificant their gardens might be. It is surprising how liberating it is, if you can grow anything  at all -  and there is as much pleasure in a snowdrop as in a successful career.” 

Forgive the thesaurus, but reflect on how much you could gain
from an inspirational day at the Malvern Autumn Show
Words of wisdom indeed - don’t miss the opportunity to hear him, and other celebrities; but do check the Show website for times of appearance. In fact visit it regularly for updates on all that is happening, and many more fruitful experiences to come.

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