370: Woburn Abbey, Garden Show 2018

Martin Towsey is the Estates Gardens Manager of The Bedford Estates, responsible for all horticultural matters on The Bedford Estates across the UK and, is also show producer of the Woburn Abbey Garden Show.On this episode of The Sodshow Peter Donegan talks with Martin and also former guest Stephen Bennett about this years remastered Woburn Abbey Garden Show taking place 23rd/ 24th June 2018, now in its 9th year.The Sodshow is available every Friday in iTunes, all good podcast stores and www.sodshow.comStephen Bennett was for 28 years the Shows Director of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) where he was responsible for the organisation of the RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace Flower Shows and all the other RHS shows during his tenure. Of recent he is a consultant advising on events, exhibitions and horticultural happenings in public parks, private estates and iconic venues, both in the UK and internationally.From BBC Gardeners’ World Live, Hampton Court Palace, Tatton Park and Chelsea he has been responsible for 560 garden shows during his RHS tenure, launching all of them except Chelsea which started many years before he joined the RHS. And now he has emabarked on a new career including Ascot in April and the Woburn Abbey Garden Show in June.The ‘Gardeners’ Garden Show’ attracts around 5,000 visitors and has become an important diary date for gardening enthusiasts. Set just over an hour from London in 42-acres of the Abbey’s beautifully landscaped gardens, the show offers unparalleled access to award-winning exhibitors and nurseries that have been handpicked by Woburn. The displays are complemented by an array of live entertainment, artisan foods, shopping, demonstrations, informative talks and gardening advice, tips and tours.In 2017 Martin Towsey was awarded Horticulture Week Custodian Awards’ top accolade ‘The Custodian Award’ for his work restoring the Humphry Repton landscape and gardens at Woburn Abbey. He is 14 years into a 25 year plan to restore the Abbey Gardens to Repton’s plans as laid out in the famous Red Book (1805) Repton created for Woburn.Further Details:Facebook: Woburn Abbey and GardensTwitter: @woburngardenersweb: www.woburnabbey.co.ukMuch thanks for listening, always XPeterTwitter: @sodshowfacebook: The Sodshowinstagram: sodshow