Too expensive

Yes, I agree, I live only a few miles from Tatton Park, but I've never been to the RHS show. I won't pay the entrance fee to get in, I'd rather spend that amount of money on plants!

I went instead to another local, but much smaller garden festival at Arley Hall, a few weeks back. £10.50 entrance fee which covered not only all the gardening stalls and a floral marquee, but entrance to Arley gardens and the Hall as well. Had a great day out at reasonable cost. It shouldn't be too expensive just to get into a flower show!

Its the same with a lot of gardens too and other attractions, I sometimes wonder how people, especially families afford to go to these places, then the refreshments are an arm and a leg......

Well not literally you understand....

Louisa: Wish I'd known about Arley Hall Show, I'd have found that price and inclusions far more acceptable. Must remember to look out for it next year.

Pamg; Yes that too. My OH and I calculated there would only be small change from £100 if we travelled to Tatton, taking into account petrol, entrance, perhaps a drink or ice cream and that's if we take a picnic lunch. Ridiculous.

I totally agree Pamg, everything is extortionately priced these days.

I have just looked up the prices Waddy, I agree, there are similar complaints about entry to the golf as well.
So many of us who like to visit these places are the older generation with limited resources. At least we get concessions in some places.

Waddy, next year the Arley Garden Festival is on 21st June. I got tickets at that price in advance online, there was also a craft fair included which I thought was very good. I was there for over 6 hours and definitely got my money's worth! :) Don't know if you know Arley Hall, here's the link to their website in case you don't: http://arleyhallandgardens.com/events.html

My OH and I often say the same thing how can families afford to take the kids to some of the attractions he also says that we are out of touch with today's prices we always take a flask and sarnie s when we go out , with a small private pension we worked hard for when we were self employed and the oap pension OH paid into for 46 years which the government don't seem to want to raise more than a few pounds a year then they put the council tax up which takes that what we were given away so we have to watch the pennies as well as the pounds rant over we were talking about flower shows lol .

I agree...many days out , not only garden shows, are way beyond my means these days.Even visiting some RHS/National Trust gardens are ,in my opinion, very expensive.Particularly if u have a cuppa and/or something to eat!(the shows and gardens take advantage, I think with prices of refreshments because you have to buy it there or go without!!)

I agree with you Paul, I very rarely ever go to NT properties because they're too expensive. Anyway, I can go on a virtual tour of fellow GoYer's gardens on here for nothing!:)

:))) Totally agree with Louisa15, I do the same...plus I look on the Internet at other people's gardens. I know it is nothing like being there in person, I used to visit private gardens and national trust gardens regularly, years ago, but now I cannot, because of the type of work I do. But, I am very happy sitting in the comfort of my home with a glass of wine, and nose through websites :)))

I am amazed that so many people still go to these things. OH was just saying a minute ago, that a day ticket to watch the Golf at Muirfield this week was £75!

Thats why my daughter and I renewed our English Heritage subscriptions, it does save us in the long run as we do enjoy our days out......

We dont visit so much these days, as the prices for 2 and catering and any purchases make for a very expensive visit.

£75 for golf Karen?? mind you that probably includes Tee ! (I'm sorry for that very poor joke)

yes, so you should be Paul! ;)

Can I suggest if you like to visit gardens, look for local ones open for charity? I don't mean just Yellow Book ones. Round here (Berkshire) there are also the British Red Cross and Air Ambulance open garden schemes, where entry is around £3.50. Much cheaper, nice day out, and the money goes to a worthy cause too

great answer Andrew! :))

Yesterday I visited 8 gardens open in a nearby village for £7.50. It was a lovely day out, & there were floral displays in the church too. It's nice to look at people's smaller private gdns, as they are all so different( like the ones on GoY). Of course, I had to have tea & cake too, for £1.50! I haven' been to the Hampton Ct Show for years because of the cost.I watch it & Chelsea on the telly. Tomorrow I'm going to RHS Wisley, but as a member get value for money by going often. I put the monthly mags in the bin, when I've looked at the pictures! Seems a shame really.

That's the thing I miss about membership..the mags!

Makes me wonder how much the exhibitors get paid expenses for taking their potted plants grown in polytunnels, and setting up the 'show gardens.'
Can one of our experts find out ? We could all do that if
we had the facilities.

Goy is a great site. Its free. We learn too, which is more important.

Supporting local open gardens is the best way. People work really hard to get them ready.

On the web there is also a list called "Open Gardens" which lists various villages having their gardens open. These are not included in the yellow book scheme. In June I visited the gardens in Higham Ferrers Northants near where I live, and we could visit 16 gardens for the price of £ 3.50 - there's not much that could beat that. Needless to say I was worn out long before I got to the end so had to give a few gardens a miss. I'll look at these next year if I can. It's surprising what good ideas you can get from your local gardening community. It's also worthwhile looking at your local free newspaper as individual gardens are often listed in the "What's On".

And make some lovely friends too Diane. :0)

Where we go in SW Scotland there are some lovely gardens and not expensive to visit
Recently we went to Glenwhan, its a lovely natural garden with woodlands and a view of the sea, a nice little tea room and friendly people £4 for concessions, and a scheme with 10% off other local gardens.........

Wow! It's lovely to hear that there are so many gardens opening....and not all under the NGS banner. I really need to start buying the local newspaper more often!

Apart from the fun of browsing through everyone's gardens here on GOY, which you can do as often and whenever you like, I also visit local gardens.
There are the NGS books to browse, Red Cross and various other charity openings. There is also the web to find them at, just type in open gardens and your area and you will get a choice.
You usually get to see several gardens in the area under one price (£3.50 - £5.00 usually) and these are all individual gardens, which probably wouldn't be opened if it wasn't for a good cause.
Loads of ideas, people to talk to about their gardens and best of all sometimes plants to buy which are surplus to requirements. Where else can you buy plants from 50p and see them 'in situ' showing their full sizes and preferences of site?

Thanks to everyone who commented. I'd no idea I'd start off such a response!
I shall now be taking a closer look at the 'What's On?' section in my local paper, as well as going on the 'tinternet to find even more!
As for those expensive 'shows' etc...well they know what they can do lol!

Some things are only for the rich ... but our own gardens are just as good I think, because we love them :o)

Well it's £21 for a ticket for pensioners for Shrewsbury Show. Not sure if that is classed as expensive, but for that you get entry from 10am to 10 pm.
The firework display is worth half of that on it's own.
You can go in and out of the show all day long, so you don't have to pay high prices for food or drink.
As to exhibitors getting paid, the opposite is the case. You have to pay for the privilege of setting up your display.
My colleague, who runs a specialised dahlia nursery, spent over £3000 last year.
For individuals like myself, in the amateur sections, minimum entry fee is £10. Everything I enter costs £45.
For that, myself and family get free entry both days to the show, so not to bad. That nowhere near covers the cost of staging the exhibits, transporting them, growing them, etc, etc.
In a good year I win about £130 in prize money that the wife steals from me and spends at the show, so really the show ends up costing me money, but it is all worth it when you see the pleasure people get from looking at your exhibits.
So i'd say it's a good price for a good day out.

Sorry Srumpy, but even £21 is rather top heavy I think. I appreciate the cost to the exhibitors isn't cheap either, but for some of the top growers it's a good form of advertising and that in someways off sets their expenses. After all they wouldn't do it if it was a total loss.
When I was working, these entrance fees were a different matter. It was a day out in most cases, and affordable then. Now I've only got a small pension, it's an expense I cannot justify.
Perhaps one thing which show organisers (and exhibitors) need to bear in mind is the fact that the number of pensioners is at an all time high. These people have more time to spend in their gardens, but less disposable income. If they are to be enticed into these Shows, the entrance fees need to be lowered. After all, better to have two people with twice as much spending potential than one person with half the spending power.
Hope that all made sense lol!

Fair enough then.

Don't know if people realise, but the cost to the organisers to put the show on is £1 million plus. So they have to charge a fair bit to get in. And they don't make too much profit on that.
And I suppose that people know it's a once a year event, so they have a long time to save up.

Of course, there is a way round it. If you enter, it costs £10 for 5 entries. Those entries can be anything from a jar of jam to a bowl of tomatoes to a vase of marigolds.
For that, you get 2 free days entry.
Some people of course enter, don't put anything in, and get their free entry tickets. But that's another story.

I've never heard of that before Sg. How mean can you get?

Yes ...everything is getting very expensive...
I agree with Andrew about the charity gardens...
that's why I go to the charity dog shows ...
fun.. and for very good causes :o)