I always thought this was one of the biggest flower shows in London but after catching a Better homes and Gardens special the other night, turns out its not, but don’t let that deter you, its still one of London’s most prestige flower shows and occupies a good couple square kilometers of the Royal Hospital park. As a testament to this, tickets sell out almost as fast as Big Day Out (used to), so getting in early to save disappointment is a must. Tickets are available by date and by time with the cheaper ones being later in the day or towards the end of the show dates.
Sloane Square is the closest tube stop but there are plenty of buses and other unofficial cash-inners doing regular runs. Walking down Lower Sloane St, take the right into Royal Hospital Rd. to get to the main entrance and collect your tickets, otherwise you will end up having to circle the whole block as there are no other entrances (one on the south western side but its for members and media only).
Some very handy tips are listed here which will help you through the day but in general it’s a sea of people everywhere you go and a little bit of a maze to get around.
Main Avenue
Main Avenue is the first place to start with larger companies and stores displaying and selling products and flowers. Smaller vendors with crafted items and garden ornaments branch off from this along with fully recreated garden entries, these ranged from rustic to ultra modern minimalistic styles. Unfortunately getting a nice wide shot can be quite difficult with the crowd and little ol Mavis doesn’t help by elbowing you in the ribs or obscuring your shot with some wayward pointing.
The definite highlight is the Great Pavilion which houses hundreds of displays of cut flowers, new varieties, exotic plants and exhibits on how to go completely over the top with them. Some of the simplest displays were just as eye catching as the elaborate thanks to some clever arranging.
One of the first things even the most casual observer will notice is the variety of colours, think Hyacinths don’t come in magenta, think again. The next observation is the countless new hybrids and completely new varieties available and not just thanks to the UK’s flower friendly climate. For the most part, viewing is rather easy in the sense that similar varieties and countries’ natives are grouped together. There was even an Australian natives section, sadly amongst all the colour and flair it looked more like the backyard of my old share house after not mowing it for 9 months than a flora display.
The Bonsai exhibit stood out in an understated simplistic way but was dwarfed in size, colour and sheer “Whoa! That would’ve taken FOREVER” with a ceremony display of Thai flower arranging in the shapes of animals (elephants and fish) and temples garnished with further origami style weave crafting of dried leaves and reeds.
Further creativity was on display with the finalists of the Chelsea Young Florist of the Year competition, where entrants had to create a jacket made from or heavily cover in intricate live flower designs.
Back outside, you’d have more luck finding a spot to eat, rest or use the bathroom at a music festival than here. Long queues and people who don’t function well in crowds (or are too old to care) are a problem but if you come prepared with some snacks or don’t plan on staying more than a few hours it wont be enough to ruin your day. Even better when you realise you’ve gone the whole event without getting hayfever! 😀
Photo tip: A mid range zoom macro lens should cover all your needs for this event. A wide angle may be helpful for the bigger displays and “getting it all in” if you manage to squeeze your way to the front. Ambient light is still plentiful even in doors thanks to semi opaque ceilings so flash wont be necessary.
Next up, we hit the shops at Hammersmith and Covent Garden.
Complete Chelsea Flower Show 2011 photos here
London 2011 part #1 – Arrival, Soho Shopping
London 2011 part #2 – Central London sight seeing
London 2011 part #4 – Shopping – Hammersmith
London 2011 part #5 – Shopping – Covent Garden and Soho
London 2011 part #6 – Shopping – Camden
London 2011 part #7 – Shopping – Shoreditch
London 2011 part #8 – Hyde park, Piccadilly Circus
London photo gallery here
Chelsea flower show photo gallery here
The best thing about seeing the sights in central London is their close proximity, barely a couple km’s separates the majority of them so a few hours and footpower is all you’ll need. The trade off is of course having to compete with thousands of other tourists.
Trafalgar Square
Getting the Tube to Charing Cross will pop you up at fountains galore, Trafalgar sq. Like with alot of popular tourist spots there are always scammers, pick pockets and crazy bums accusing you of stealing their sandals so keep your wits about you and know where or how to contact police/security. Security here patrol the area and are easily visible.
Buckingham Palace
Fountain at Buckingham Palace
From here we took a short walk down to Buckingham palace where less than a month before Prince Willy and Cath tied the official knot. If you time it right you’ll also get to witness the famous “changing of the guard”. You can then cut through the gardens to the back of Cavalry Museum where you find guards on foot and on horse back ready to be demeaned with peace symbols and cheesy grins in a photo.
Mounted guard at Cavalry Museum
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
A couple blocks from here are 2 unintentionally gloomy buildings thanks to period architecture and a typically overcast London day, Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament featuring Big Ben. There always seems to be road or building works in this area so you may need to cross the road a few times to get a good spot. On the plus side, with the tower being a lot taller than the adjacent buildings you can get a photo of it from just about anywhere.
London Eye
From here its another short walk across Westminster Bridge to the London Eye. Even with the typical London haze and boring skies it’s a great way to see a broad view of the city and if you time it right you might even score some sweet sunset photos.
Tower Bridge - Lego version 😉
If you have time to spare, continue along Southbank. There’s usually artists and small market stalls set up along the way and the rug store closing down sale style of the “Under croft”, London’s longest running central skatepark dating back to the 70s. Further along there’s the Tate modern museum, Millennium bridge, London bridge and then the Tower bridge (what people think is London bridge).
Travel tip: If you’re catching the Tube back from this end of town, try not to get stuck at Monument or Bank stations during peak hour. This is a major business area and center for multiple interchanges. If you’re new to Tubing, its definitely not for the faint hearted (or short of patience/fitness). Also note, even though on the map the interchanges look close together there are some considerably long tunnel/escalator runs so it may actually be quicker to spend longer on a train than running through tunnels, especially if you have luggage.
London 2011 part #1 – Arrival, Soho Shopping
London 2011 part #3 – Chelsea Flower show
London 2011 part #4 – Shopping – Hammersmith
London 2011 part #5 – Shopping – Covent Garden and Soho
London 2011 part #6 – Shopping – Camden
London 2011 part #7 – Shopping – Shoreditch
London 2011 part #8 – Hyde park, Piccadilly Circus
London photo gallery here
Chelsea flower show photo gallery here
