Garden event to get royal seal of approval (From Worcester News)

Garden event to get royal seal of approval

11:40pm Monday 15th March 2010 in

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THE Princess Royal is to visit the Malvern Spring Gardening Show in May.

Princess Anne, the only daughter of the Queen, will tour the showground and meet the people who have transformed the event from a regional flower show into one of the UK’s biggest gardening events.

The show, which is held at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern, is now in its 25th anniversary year.

The Princess, who first visited the site in 1976 and served as the Three Counties Agricultural Society President in 1981, is expected to play a part in some of the birthday celebrations.

Doreen Smillie, Malvern Spring Gardening Show manager, said: “The Princess Royal is no stranger to the Malvern Showground and we are naturally delighted that she should choose to honour us with a visit in this special year.

“We hope to introduce her to some of the many people who have supported the show over the years, and have worked tirelessly, very often behind the scenes, to make it the success it is today.”

The royal visit should include a tour of the show’s 25th Anniversary Garden, which at 676 square metres, is the biggest garden ever built on the gardening show circuit. It is hoped that the Princess Royal will also meet exhibitors who have been involved with the show since the beginning, including David Matthewman, who will be creating a specially commissioned birthday cake, cleverly made out of sweet peas.

This year’s show runs from Thursday, May 6 to Sunday, May 9. The Princess Royal will visit on Friday, May 7.

See threecounties.co.uk/springgardening for information on tickets.