Event Overview: RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2024
Despite the typically British wet weather conditions, the GardenSite team had a very exciting and enjoyable week exhibiting at the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival working in collaboration with long-standing supplier and European market leader for metal sheds and storage boxes, Biohort. In this follow-up blog, Gaby reflects on the success of the event, including highlights and considerations for next year's show.
Saturday 29th June marked the beginning of the world-famous horticulture festival, with our team arriving bright and early to start setting up the stand, having 48 hours to get everything in order before the big reveal on Press Day the following Monday. The decking was laid first to create a solid foundation, followed by the erection of the 9 x 6ft shed and subsequently the smaller, more compact items including 2 storage boxes, 2 planters and a patio locker. Slowly but surely, stand 342 transformed from an uninspiring patch of grass into a fantastic, contemporary 5 x 5 metre display of quality garden products. Add the finishing touches plus a few tweaks here and there and our stand was finally complete, with the end result as below:
Monday soon came around and Press Day welcomed lots of recognisable faces to the show, including the great musician and songwriter, Brian May (lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rockband Queen), as well as an abundance of garden and horticulture social media influencers. Throughout the week, BBC presenter Arit Anderson was recording for Gardener's World, and we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of her filming a segment about the plot that she designed herself, the 'RHS Peat-Free Garden'.
Even though the weather wasn't on our side, our stand attracted lots of visitors and we were over the moon with the interest in our products. Biohort's UK Manager, Trent Kieser and Sales Manager, Kevin Rijndertse were on hand along with GardenSite's salesmen Matt and Matthew to discuss what was on our stand and answer any product queries. The main attraction, our Biohort Highline H2 Metal Shed 9 x 6 ft with Double Doors was certainly an eye-catcher, especially with the additional accessories which included a side canopy, window kit, FloraBoard flower boxes and more.
An upside of the wet weather was that it gave us the perfect conditions for demonstrating the main advantages and selling points of the Biohort boxes and lockers - we were able to show customers first-hand how they are fully rainproof and can withstand adverse weather conditions, making them perfect for storing cushions and tools all-year round!
As the event got into full swing, we were pleasantly surprised to receive a Tradestand Award from the show's judges commending the level of presentation of our stand. The reason we were surprised to receive this is because, being a flower-based show at heart, our stand of metal garden sheds and boxes doesn't necessarily lend itself to the usual aesthetic of striking flora and fauna, so we were over the moon to accept the award and we displayed it with pride on our stand throughout the event.
All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed exhibiting at the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, especially with our colleagues at Biohort. We would like to thank everyone who attended the show and particularly those who visited our stand and took the time to look at our products and make a purchase. For those of you who entered our 'Guess How Many Pots are in the Box' competition, stay tuned into our socials, particularly our Instagram page, where we will be announcing the winner shortly!
We are looking forward to attending next year's RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival and we will be returning bigger and better, using the knowledge and experience gained from this year's event to ensure a wonderful show for 2025.
Don't forget that we are offering 10% off all Biohort products purchased through GardenSite.co.uk until 21st July 2024!