| The Kent Garden Show got off to a great start this
year - 2008 - with good (if windy) weather for the Saturday 24th May.
The forecast for the following days is/was pretty awful, so was well
pleased to have chosen the first day for a visit. 
There are normally around 300+ trade stands at the
Kent show each Spring, and goodness knows how many gardening visitors!
All gardening tastes are catered for at this show, ranging for the
multitude of general and specialist plant nurseries, through to
furniture, decking, hot tubs, garden buildings and all manner of things
to give the garden a kick start for the summer months ahead. (You can
then have your own little garden show at home!)
The Kent Garden Show is situated at the Detling show
Ground. There are all the facilities you would expect from a dedicated
show Ground.
Plenty to eat and drink, don't leave it until until
last minute before you hunt out the toilets! It gets very busy.
Car parking - on grass - is well catered for, but I do
wish they would properly sign the exits - you can get quite giddy!
Some images from the Kent Garden Show at Detling 2008
are set out below. Click them for a larger version.
Without giving him a plug, I came across an old
nurseryman friend who always exhibits at the Kent Show - Many others
also.
Whilst he started life as a wholesale nurseryman -
selling to small garden centres etc, the trade has of course changed
radically over the last few years, with the smaller independents being
gobbled up by the larger chains and companies. Keeping ahead of the
trends - as he always has done - Chris - for that is his name - wanders
over to China to bring back some delights such as the little gems below.
As you can see by his stand (below) he is still a
nurseryman at heart. More about Chris some other time!
What else would you expect to find at a Garden Show? A great selection
of squeegies, mops and brooms!
This time round, I fought shy of my customary Hog Roast
at the Detling Garden Show - being totally distracted by the lovely Thai
ladies serving up genuine Thai morsels. Our brief conversation compared
the weather of the UK with Thailand, with the latter coming out on top
of course - and that was on the one sunny day of the weekend! They lived
up to their claim of being from the land of smiles. (I wonder if they
managed that with the disgusting weather forecast for the following two
days of show!
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