Toby’s Garden Festival at Powderham Castle takes place as always on the first spring bank holiday of the year, heralding the start of summer and the new growing season. Widely regarded as the preeminent gardening show in the West Country, Toby’s GardenFest is now in its fourth year and bursts into life for two plant-packed days in the stunning location of Powderham Castle, near Exeter in Devon.
Known for its friendly, inclusive atmosphere and beautiful setting, Toby’s GardenFest is a garden party like no other with celebrity speakers, more than 100 plant nurseries, arts and crafts, fabulous local food, live music and entertainment for all.
Toby says, “I’m thrilled to announce the dates for our fourth festival at Powderham and once again we have a fresh line-up of exhibitors and interactive displays, designed to inspire and entertain the region’s gardeners.
We have even more special and unusual plants, as well as a new Garden Pest Clinic where we will be show-casing up-to-the-minute, eco-friendly techniques for dealing with pests and diseases. This year we’re doing even more to celebrate the wealth of independent growers and makers with our new ‘Devon Made’ expo and we have our Curious Corner, a place for gardeners young and old to explore the fascinating world of wildlife, Nature and the great outdoors.
Also for 2017 we’re introducing The Chill & Grill Yurt where you can savour the taste of summer and learn to cook more than just bangers and burgers – a must for the alpha outdoor-chef in your family!”
Visitors can access the region’s best growers, hand-picked by Toby and the GardenFest team and get their gardening conundrums sorted whilst at the Festival. It’s also a fantastic opportunity for some great horticultural shopping at excellent prices.
Our confirmed celebrity speakers are Radio 4 Gardeners’ Question Time panellist Pippa Greenwood who will be speaking on veg-growing and pesky pests on Friday 28th. On Saturday 29th we are delighted award-winning garden designer Adam Frost will be joining us. Adam has recently joined the presenting team on BBC Gardeners’ World on Friday nights and is widely tipped to be the nation’s next head gardener.
The Festival takes place at Powderham Castle, home to the Earl and Countess of Devon, which has been in the Courtenay family since the 14th century. The Castle Courtyard, North Lawn and Lower Lawn will be filled with nursery exhibitors and stands serving up delicious West Country fayre, while the historic Victorian kitchen will host a programme of horticultural Kitchen Cutting talks on both days. Craft and artisan exhibitors are to be found in the Dining Room and grand wood-panelled rooms on the ground floor of the Castle.
Parking is free and once again we have our tractor-trailer on hand to take you to and from the Castle, very handy when you have a barrow-load of new plants to carry home. Keen as we are to encourage the next generation of gardeners, accompanied children under 16 are free of charge. Put the dates in your diary – we look forward to welcoming you in 2017!
