Joining RHS Chelsea 2013

blossomhill_2

Stop press; Kaffe Fassett quilts will be exhibited at this year's RHS Shades of Autumn show LINK

blossomhill_2

RHS Members can get into Wisley Taste of Autumn festival free over the next few days - great for getting into an autumnal mood, or sampling apples LINK up to 21 Oct

kerleytops

There are other non RHS gardens to visit where members get free entry or concessions. As a member you can use the members only cafe/sitting area at Gardeners World Live at the NEC. We are quite near a lot of these places so I think my membership is worthwhile.

azzabazza

I have just received the Early Bird advance booking email from RHS for Chelsea Flower Show 2013. I have joined RHS so I can take advantage of early booking from 1 November. Just need to decide with my friend what days we wish to go then book tickets and accommodation.

Maybe we can fit in a visit to Wisley too. I presume it is easy to get to via public transport from central London.

EpsomOldie

Hello Azzabazza

As far as I know, there's no public transport from Central London direct to RHS Wisley. These sites http://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley/plan-your-visit/getting-here and http://gouk.about.com/od/ukgardensandgardening/qt/rhs_wisley.htm say that you need to go to Surbiton and get a bus. There are frequent trains to Surbiton from central London leaving from Waterloo via Clapham Junction on SouthWest trains.

The bus stop is on the A3 and although it's correct to say that it's 5 minutes from the bus stop to the entrance to RHS Wisley, they fail to mention that there's another good 15 - 20 minutes walk along the paths and across the car park before you actually hit the turnstiles!

Wisley's a 20 minutes drive from me and their plant centre and shop are good, but dear, though free to get in. The coffee shop is very dear.

Wisley's lovely but hard to get to on public transport IMO, and Chelsea's worth a visit. Like BlossomHill and others say, go early on member's day, avoid the corporate stuff and overpriced trade stalls, and take your own refreshments and lots of pound coins to buy catalogues. The marquee is fabulous and less crowded and you get to talk to the nursery people. The show gardens are a scrum. I don't think I'll go back to Chelsea - too crowded - but I'm glad I visited.

Hope this helps