In need of some inspiration to revitalise my Office Breaks, an invitation to the GO travel show at Kempton Park caught my eye. Hosted by Landor Travel Publications, the show promised more than 100 leading attractions from Shakespeare’s Globe to the Bombay Sapphire Distillery. Offering the added bonus of a trip to RHS Garden Wisley, I needed no further persuasion to sign up.
Now in its third year, the GO Travel Show brings together more than 500 group travel organisers, tour operators and travel trade professionals with more than 100 of the UK’s top destinations, attractions and travel providers. In the space of an hour, I’d sorted out a trip to the Isle of Wight, nailed a family visit to The Royal Air Force Museum, booked a show for my work colleagues and even posed for a shameless selfie with the cast of Wicked. By the end of all this wheeling and dealing, I was more than ready for a reviving cup of tea in Wisley’s peaceful grounds.
A tour of RHS Garden Wisley
Located near Woking in Surrey, RHS Garden Wisley, is a soothing 240-acre garden sanctuary made up of manicured lawns, serene ponds and intricate, rock gardens crammed with some of the most diverse plant life around. It’s not surprising that it’s one of the world’s leading gardens attracting more than one million visitors per year.
But not one to rest on its laurels, Wisley is a key focus of the RHS’s £160 million investment programme which will create a new Welcome building, (opening May 2019), as well as a new National Centre for Horticultural Science and Learning. Treated to a sneak preview of the Welcome building, I was blown away by the scale and ambition of the project which will include a new 100-seater restaurant, café and shop and expanded indoor plant centre. For such a large-scale project, attention to detail pops up everywhere in such quirky features as this whimsical, hanging trowel installation.
After our tour, we’re let loose to explore the gardens and with so much on offer, it’s hard to know where to start. We head first to the annual Daffodil show where more than 100 varieties vie for attention in a blaze of glory that would be the envy of Wordsworth. From the palest ivory to gaudy golds, the endless diversity makes for a truly eye-catching display.
Strolling deeper into the gardens, we discover cherry trees groaning with blossom, leaving a bitter-sweet confetti trail in their wake. Who needs spring in Japan when it’s all here at Wisley I muse. And the Japanese theme continues as we venture into the rock garden. Constructed in the early 1900’s, it showcases the most delicate alpine beauties nestling in crevices under the watchful eye of dwarf conifers and rather wistful, weeping trees. Gentle streams tinkle through the rocky outcroppings to form a graceful waterfall that eventually sweeps into the Long Ponds – just the place to soothe away the stresses of the working day. Once you’ve exhausted the rock garden, you can also whisk yourself off for a Julie Andrews style twirl in the Alpine Meadow – a rich carpet festooned in crocuses, daffodils and violets in the spring and orchids in the summer.
Toddling out of the rock garden, an immense, translucent cathedral rears up in front of us. The Glass House shelters Wisley’s world-leading tender plant collection – home to plant ascensions from across the globe in their respective dry, moist temperate and tropical zones. Sadly, it’s closed by the time we arrive (opening times: 10.00-5.15pm March-October) but it’s well worth a visit not only for its exotic plant life but also for its eye-catching butterflies that flit around the tropical zone in an annual exhibition in January/February.
One of the most charming elements of the gardens is the sculptures that suddenly pop up at the most unexpected moments such as this beautifully carved stone bear catching fish by the side of a pond. Showcasing some of the world’s best sculptures, Wisley will be hosting an exhibition of modern and contemporary sculptors including: Henry Moore, Lynne Chadwick, Tracey Emin, Phillip King, Henry Bruce and Philip Haas from the 30 May to 1 December 2019. An event not to be missed.
All too soon, our brief visit comes to an end and I feel I haven’t even scratched the surface yet. With the grand opening of the Welcome building and the launch of the sculpture exhibition all taking place next month, I’ll definitely be back on another Office Break soon to de-stress and enjoy more of these garden’s evolving delights.