Spring 2019

Head on over to Veg Plotting for her report of her Return to Malvern and 2019's Spring Festival...

Wordless Wednesday: Saturday's Alarm Clock

Try here if the embedded video doesn't work

Wordless Wednesday: Pussy Willow

A Quick Walk and Some Snippets About May :)

Life has been very hectic lately with trips up to Birmingham on various family errands, so it was lovely on Monday to stop off at Malvern on the way home to catch up with what's happening with the preparations for the Spring Show.

I was a bit too early for my appointment, so an added bonus was parking the car close to Helen's and taking a quick walk at the foot of the Malverns on the common land near her house. As you can see it was a glorious spring day and a real tonic after a stressful morning.

It was great to see Vicky, Nina and Sharon again and to find out what's in store for us in May. There's eleven showgardens entered for the Chris Beardshaw Scholarship which is significantly up on last year's numbers. I'm hoping some of them will feature in guest posts here at Meet @ Malvern once the build gets underway on the 18th April. This year's theme is Atom, so there's lots of scope for interesting features and focal points in the designs.

Last year's Biodiversity theme continues in the Garden in Harmony theatre where James will again be master of all he surveys. Previous CBS winner Paul Hervey-Brookes has designed the stage area plus two satellite gardens. See my Green Shoots post for more details on this year's programme of events.

The theatre will be further from the coffee/catering area this year so we need to think where it'll be best for us to meet up at the show, especially as we won't have our Bloggers' meeting area this time. We do have the option of using the large flags to create a meet-up point though, so your thoughts on where these might go if we use them are welcome.

A new feature for this year's show is a book slot, with various garden authors appearing on each day to talk about their books and to sign copies. I'm pleased to see that quite a few of last year's Meet will feature prominently: Mark with his Taste of the Unexpected; Lia's lovely Twilight Garden and Anne Wareham with her hot off the press The Bad Tempered Gardener. I'll tell you more when I have the full list of authors and appearance dates.

It looks like it's going to be a great show!

Remembered Hills

My Malvern goes back to well before the Spring Show was a twinkle in The Three Counties Agricultural Society's eye...

I love Malvern. It's a place of good times and memories as it was our family's premier choice for a day out when I was little. It was like magic - the number 144 Midland Red bus from the end of our road would whisk us away from the dingy outskirts of Birmingham and we'd arrive in a sparkling new world full of hills and fresh air. We'd climb up Worcestershire Beacon, unpack our picnic and drink in the view as well as a welcome cuppa brewed up by dad on a tiny camping gas stove. The rest of the world was spread out below us like a map and it was easy to spot the Three Counties Showground from our perch atop the hill.

For me the Malvern Hills represented freedom. My mum's disabled and there were few places safe enough for her to have a good walk on a day out. The path to the top of Worcestershire Beacon was one of those and for once I'd be allowed to run and wander pretty much as I pleased, rather than having to keep hemmed in to my mum's side and pace.

I also had other freedoms there: in the summer holidays before starting secondary school my parents sent me off on a children's holiday for a month. I'm an only child and there were very few children where I lived, so a whole month's rough and tumble with my peers was absolute heaven.

We were based at the Abbey College for the duration. We walked the entire length of the hills, visited Elgar's grave, walked to Eastnor Castle, rolled down British Camp, played wide games and hide and seek in the bracken and discovered a disused bottling plant in Malvern Wells. It must have only just closed down and had been using the famous Malvern Water to create all kinds of concoctions bearing brightly coloured labels which we collected: American Cream Soda, Sarsaparilla, Sparkling Lemonade and their version of Cola amongst dozens of others I can't quite recall. A couple of times we walked to the top of Worcestershire Beacon at night and sang songs round a camp fire whilst roasting potatoes in its embers. It was a truly magical time which I still treasure.

I have one particularly distinct memory from then. We'd just climbed the hills on a very hot day and had stopped to catch our breath. I looked down to the plains below and asked what the clearly visible large site was directly in front of us. The Three Counties Showground was the reply and I can remember thinking Well, that's one place I'll never go to then. It must have been its perceived remoteness to a city dwelling child which made it seem such an impossible place to visit.

It just goes to show how wrong you can be :)

Photo courtesy and copyright of James Alexander Sinclair.

A Curiosity for you to check-out

As I have mentioned in a previous post Malvern has quite a few historical connections but it also has another claim to fame - well maybe not so much a claim to fame but it is in the Guinness Book of Records. The photo above gives a clue to its claim to fame - can you guess?

No its nothing to do with the double yellow lines though they do seem to dominate the photo above.


Its the Theatre of Small Convenience The theatre was created in an old public convenience in 1999 and regularly puts on various performances. Do look at the link to see some photos of the interior. In 2002 it won its place in the Guinness Book of Records - see below

I'm not sure if they will be having any performances on while the Spring Show is on but its well worth checking out just as an oddity - you may even pass it on your way from the car park to ASK is you are joining us for the meal on Saturday night.

This is my Malvern Post...

...and now for a simulcast(ish) with the legendary Award Winning Blogger Mr James Alexander Sinclair...

This is one of those weeks where I am not at all sure what I should write about as nothing particularly fascinating has happened. I have driven to Cornwall and back to collect my daughter from University, I have ordered an enormous number of plants from various places and we went see the legendary Patti Smith in concert in Leamington Spa. This last was actually quite fascinating: she is always good. My wife is mildly obsessed with her (and has been for many, many years) so this was her second Patti smith concert in a week.

So (in the words of Marriott Edgar in Albert and the Lion), “seeking for further amusement” I have decided to write about my first visit to Malvern - as the show is looming and everybody else seems to have had their say over here.

I was first asked to talk at Malvern Spring Show in, and I get a bit fuzzy over this, 2004 on the back of a television series I presented called Small Town Gardens (it was the third and last series, in fact the last series of garden makeovers that the BBC produced). It was also my first proper lecturing gig - I had done a couple to local horticultural societies but this was different. I had never been to Malvern before so had no idea what to expect.

I was put up in a hotel in Malvern that was also being occupied by all the RHS Judges who had convened in Malvern in their official capacities. One of the things about RHS Judges in general is that they do like to let their hair down a bit whenever they are together. As a result the joint was jumping until the early hours: I didn’t really know them terribly well so merely observed from round a corner (at my lonely table for one).

Next morning I rocked up at the show ground and reported for duty. I was shown a large echoing barn that had, until recently, been the site of the fattest ewe or glossiest cow contest (the Three Counties Showground is not just about gardening: there are a lot of other things ranging from agricultural shows to meeting of the VW Camper club). I was junior end of the bill after Nigel Colborn - who did wise things chatting about plants that he had just picked up on his walk around the showground: I don’t know whether he paid for them or not. I was rather too intimidated to ask. And Joe Swift who drew things on an easel and talked about designing gardens on the diagonal - yeah,yeah. The whole thing was compered by a cheery fellow called Mike from local radio.

I was very scared: like rush to the loo petrified but by the end of the second session I was having a ball and realised that this was actually quite a good way to pass the time. Joe and I had a great time being very well looked after by the fabulous Nina. She was driving us around in some sort of golf cart at one point and as she slowed for some slow moving people we leapt off the cart and disappeared into the crowd. She didn’t notice for a while and then realised that she had lost us and an expression of panic crossed her face. We were forgiven.

I also decided that Malvern was actually rather a wonderful place run by jolly people and I wanted to come back again so started plotting...

Since then I have returned every year: the theatre materialised the following year - the first at any RHS Show - and has got bigger and better.

I have cavorted with Alan Titchmarsh,

pranced with Monty Don, (sorry, couldn’t find a picture with his donship)

dallied with Diarmuid Gavin

and debated whether Men or Women were better gardeners with various eminences gris (women won: mostly because there were more of them in the audience).

The weekends are usually spent with my friend, Joe Swift. We are given a pretty free rein by the show organisers especially when it comes to competitive flower arranging. He is winning at the moment, but then he always plays it very safe while I am more avant garde: my “Bridge over the M6” was a conceptual triumph, although sadly no photographic evidence is available.

I have presented fashion shows with the gorgeous Sabrina Duncan International (a firmly muscled Drag Artiste).

I have been boiling hot and absolutely soaking wet.

I have interviewed a whole string of supremely knowledgeable and talented nurserymen and designers

And a chicken has laid an egg on me.

Outside the theatre the gardens have got better and better. And there are more and more of them: the idea is that Malvern is a first stop for young and emerging talent. Especially since the elfin Chris Beardshaw has started his scholarship scheme: a chance for a young designer (designer, not Sock) to spend a year stalking Chris and building gardens at both the Malvern Autumn Show and the Chelsea Flower show.

It is a friendlier, less frantic show than say Chelsea, there is room to move around whether you are building a garden or just visiting. There are loads of excellent nurseries selling plants, food stalls, Arts and Crafts and every sort of garden sundry you can imagine. Including fibreglass gorillas and massage chairs.

This year will be fun especially as Joe and I are joined by Cleve West. We will be trying Botanical Art, more flower arranging, interviewing designers, grilling nurserymen (not literally) and generally jollying around.

See you there.

Meet @ Malvern will return after the Easter break. Have a good holiday everyone - Ed

Great Malvern - some historic connections and heritage

I thought it might be nice for those planning to come to the Malvern Spring Show to show you something of Great Malvern. I moved here in 2000 with my two boys, following my parents who had retired to the area about 8 years previously. I have grown to love the area and feel that Malvern is more my home now than Berkshire where I grew up. Malvern is actually broken into 3 areas: Great Malvern, Malvern Link and Barnards Green. Great Malvern was very popular with the Victorians who came to take the spa waters driving from one of the many natural springs across the hills.


Above is the well in the middle of Great Malvern. To be honest I hadn't really noticed the design of the well until I saw the photos my eldest took for me. There is a tradition around the Malvern Hills of well dressing. I seem to remember it happening around May time last year but I'm not sure it will coincide with your visit but if you are interested you can find out more via this site .

For those of you wanting to know more about Malvern you can visit the Malvern Museum which is pictured above. On looking at their website I was interested to note that they are running a series of events this year to mark the 100th death of Florence Nightingale who frequently visited the spa for her health.

Just by the museum is Great Malvern Priory. Originally started around 1085 - yes thats 1085! It was extended in the late 15th century. During the reign of Henry VIII the priory was saved from being destroyed by the villagers who petitioned the king to let them buy the building for £20. Further work was done in the 19th century including the building of the north porch. If you wander around the graveyard and look very carefully you will find the grave of Charles Darwin's daughter, Anne, who he had bought to the town to take the waters.

So that's a brief tour of the highlights of Great Malvern. The other thing you need to know if that it is on a hill so you need to be prepared for the slopes. I tend to plan a route for my shopping that only involves me going up hill once on the route!!

I should say that as well as some lovely old buildings, Great Malvern has a range of small eateries and cafes, numerous shops from large supermarkets to small boutiques, an excellent theatre which often has pre-West End shows and a very friendly feeling about it. I do hope that you will get a chance to visit the town as part of your visit.

My Malvern: Patient Gardener

In the first of our forays outside the Three Counties Showground, Helen tells us a little bit about The Malverns...



Everyone knows that Malvern is by the Malvern Hills but how many visitors to the Spring Show actually take time to do more than admire them from the showground?

The Malverns are a gentle range stretching from North Malvern to Eastnor where they are surmounted by the Obelisk. The Malvern Hills are designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) primarily because of their geology. It is also part of the Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark, one of 7 in the UK and 50 worldwide. You can find out more information on the area's geology, archaeology, industrial and cultural heritage and ecology via this link

The beauty of the Malvern Hills, to me, is their accessibility. I’m definitely not an enthusiastic walker and certainly not a hill climber but you don’t need to be when considering tackling the Malvern Hills. The Malvern to Ledbury road runs all the side of the hills, crossing over the top at British Camp where one of the biggest car parks is located. On the other side of the hills you can access various car parks from points along Jubilee Drive. You can access a map of the Hills via this link.


The walk to the top of British Camp is very popular with visitors. British Camp is a complex of earthworks built during the Iron Age. However, my favourite walk is from the Earnsilaw Quarry car park which is located on off The Wyche (road between Malvern and Colwall). I like this walk due to the range of trees and woodland in the lower parks, there is also a beautiful quarry which is now full of water and quite eerie at times. You can see more information via this post on my blog.

So if you are visiting the Malvern Spring Show and particularly if you are staying overnight why not build in some time to explore these beautiful hills.