The RHS Flower Show Tatton Park will return later this month, transforming the historic estate into a paradise for gardeners, horticulturalists and people who enjoy a great summer’s day out.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the show will include unique gardens where you can get heaps of inspiration, flowers galore, talks and tips from experts, activities for children, great boutique shopping, an array of street food and loads more.
Already one of the most beautiful locations in the North West, Tatton Park will be bursting with colour and life for the RHS Flower Show.
Perfect for already-keen gardeners, people who are just getting started on their horticultural journey, or those who just want one of the most stunning summer days out in the region, there’ll be loads happening between 17 and 21 July.
Visitors can partake in activities like flower arranging workshops, as well as enjoying live entertainment, great food, and loads more.
Special gardens this year will include My Name’5 Doddie, designed by Pip Probert, which will honour the late Doddie Weir and raise viral awareness for MND.
The garden will incorporate the colours of the player’s own private tartan, sculptures representing players in a line out, rugby goal posts and a water feature based on the tartan flower brooch used by the charity.
New for this year will be the RHS Career Changer of the Year, a category at the flower show that will celebrate those who’ve found a new path in horticulture.
The RHS Flower Show Tatton Park is back for 2024
Last year’s Best Show Garden winners Carolyn Hardern and Jon Jarvis will be back this summer with The 1804 Garden, continuing their campaign to support construction workers, this time focusing on how a garden can be designed to mitigate against the risks of melanoma caused by excessive sun exposure.
There’ll be a little taste of the Andes via the Peak District at RHS Tatton Park too, as Tom Saunders showcases The Orchid Garden in the Terrace Gardens, inspired by his travels to South America.
Sophie Godber’s Big Picture Garden highlights conscious consumerism, using objects sourced from a 19th century farmstead to demonstrate how building a new garden doesn’t need to cost the earth.
Meanwhile Hilary Newhall’s The Secret Garden: For Us, By Us raises awareness of autistic adults and the challenges they encounter.
The beautiful Long Borders will return, offering smaller spaces for designers and gardeners of any experience to show off their talents.
One such garden will be Barbie Says, ‘Women Can Be Anything They Want.’ (On the Shoulders of Giants), which will build on themes of women being given the right to vote and is filled with flowers that share girls’ names.
A couple celebrate their anniversary relaxing by the Woodland Stage band stand at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2019.Visitors shopping on trade stands at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2022.Visitors pose for photos with the floral RHS letters at RHS Tatton Park Flower Show 2021.Visitors look at the Young Designer ‘On Tropic’ Garden with fans in the hot weather at RHS Tatton Park Flower Show. Young Designer Garden, 361.
Other themes touched upon include the Cheshire rail network, LGBTQ+ rights, the Manchester skyline and an edible family garden.
Sarah Poll, RHS Head of Shows Development, said: “What a fantastic line-up for the 25th anniversary of the wonderful RHS Flower Show Tatton Park.
“From gardens addressing illnesses such as MND to sustainability, arts and crafts, orchids and even Barbie – we’re delighted to showcase the best of cutting-edge design and thought provoking gardens.
“We’ve also got a superb range of food and drinks, live entertainment and shopping opportunities so everyone, young or old, families or individuals can come and enjoy a great day out.”
The next time that RHS Flower Show Tatton Park will be on the site will be in 2027, as part of a roster of changes to the show’s schedule announced by the RHS earlier this year – so you really don’t want to miss this one.
The RHS Flower Show Tatton Park is taking place between 17 and 21 July 2024. You can book your tickets here.
Hit theatre production set at a house party to visit Manchester on UK tour
Daisy Jackson
Alright then, 24 hour party people, we’ve found a theatre production you might like the sound of – it’s called The House Party, and it’s set in (you guessed it) a house party.
This smash hit production by pioneering theatre company Headlong is set to land at HOME in March as part of the arts venue’s 2025 theatre season.
It tells the tale of a wild 18th birthday party, where Christine is trying to pick up the pieces of her best friend, a newly-dumped Julie (who happens to be the birthday girl).
Themes of class, power and privilege are all explored with a raw intensity as the cast on stage plough through shots and dive head-first into a night that will change everything they know.
The House Party, which has received glowing reviews from previous showings, is filled with ‘privilege, desire and destruction’.
When it stops off in Manchester, its cast will include Bridgerton’s Sesley Hope as Christine, Synnøve Karlsen (Miss Austen, Last Night in Soho) as Julie, and Tom Lewis (Gentleman Jack, Patience) as Jon.
The ensemble of Frantic Assembly performers includes Ines Aresti, Oliver Baines, Cal Connor, Micah Corbin-Powell, Rachael Leonce, Jaheem Pinder and Jamie Randall.
The House Party is written by Laura Lomas and is a reimagining of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie for today’s generation.
It’s directed by Headlong’s artistic director Holly Race Roughan, who directed the Royal Shakespeare Company’s world premiere of David Edgar’s major new political play The New Real.
The House Party. Credit: Ikin YumThe production will be at HOME. Credit: Supplied
Movement direction will come from Frantic Assembly’s Scott Graham.
Prior to the UK tour of The House Party, Headlong celebrated its 50 year anniversary, including the hit production of A Raisin in the Sun which played nationwide.
The House Party will be at HOME in Manchester between 25 and 29 March, 2025 – you can get your tickets HERE.
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff
Daisy Jackson
If you’re not a handy person, when something breaks, the temptation is often to abandon or bin it straight away.
But that’s just not how we’re gonna do it here in Greater Manchester any more, with the return of the annual Repair Week to help you learn valuable repair skills and save money at the same time.
Whether it’s tinkering with your bicycle, fixing up your small tech items, or having your furniture re-varnished and upcycled, there are so many places and people who are on a mission to help you fall back in love with your belongings.
There are even workshops to help you put flat-pack furniture together.
Taking place between 3 and 9 March, Repair Week will be the chance to learn skills, fix your stuff, gain repair confidence and find local fixers.
Events throughout the week (and beyond) will be hosted by community groups, businesses and plenty more.
You can sharpen knives, fix zips, and un-wobble chairs with a little hand from local repair heroes.
JillyGDesign Jewellery in Heaton Moor will fix up your sentimental and special jewellery items, while Rag Revival will help you turn unusable textiles into new creations with basic sewing skills.
There are repair cafes popping up all over Greater Manchester where you can take your belongings.
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff. Credit: Supplied
Repair Week will highlight schemes like the Manchester Library of Things, where you can borrow the tools and equipment you need for those repair jobs at home.
During the week you’ll also be able to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the incredible Renew Hub, the UK’s biggest reuse hub, where donated items are brought back to life.
Similarly, you’ll be able to get inside the textile recycling centre run by homelessness charity Emmaus Bolton, where you can choose your own fabric from the scrap store and turn it into a very handy draught excluder to keep costs down and your heat in.
Recycle for Greater Manchester’s Repair Week will take place between 3 and 9 March, with workshops, events and resources to help you revive your belongings.
Daisy Jackson -
8th July 2024 
