2026: Event Round Up
Flower crowns have been woven. Gardening queries answered. And all corners of the estate explored thanks to garden tours, guided newt spotting and a flurry of activity at Floralia, our Roman Villa mini-festival.
The Great Garden Show is over for this year, but it will be back again from 8-16 May 2027.
Take a peek below to see what we got up to in our inaugural year!
2026 Activities
11 & 14 May
Times vary
Planted Succulent Bowls with Forest London
Friday 15 May
10am – 3pm
Fermentation Workshop & Lunch with Sandor Katz
Includes 3-course lunch in the Garden Café
Wednesday 13 May
9.30
Eco Plant Imprints
Wednesday 13 May
12.30 & 1.45pm
Flower Hammering
14 May
10 – 11.15am
Hand-tied Posies with Forest London
Tuesday 12 May
11.30 – 12.30am
Ancient Tree Walk with Jill butler
Wednesday 13 May
10 – 11am
The Wonderful World of Roses with Michael Marriott
Wednesday 13 May
3.30 & 4.45pm
Printing with Flowers
The Opening Weekend
The show opened with a weekend packed full of revelry and fun for the whole family. Guests explored the gardens, enjoyed live music, crafted flower crowns and joined blossom, cyder and tractor tours. We enjoyed pop-up refreshments, all day BBQs, strawberries and cream and even Roman food at the Villa.
Floralia Festival at The Roman Villa
A mini-festival within the show, Floralia brought the Roman Villa to life on opening weekend with military and gladiatorial reenactments, flower crown making and Roman Food available from the Thermopolium. As the week progressed, Villa Ventorum also hosted garden tours, bowl turning, spinning and weaving demos, and have-a-go archery.
Conversations In The Garden During The Show
Voices from the world of gardening and beyond gathered to share knowledge, insights and tips from all corners of the horticultural compass. Guests included Alan Titchmarsh CBE, Sandor Katz, Robin Lane Fox, Charles Dowding, Tony Kirkham MBE, The Land Gardeners and many more, will be joining The Newt's stellar team sharing
Great Garden Dining
Sustenance is key when exploring the garden and we had plenty of options to tempt you. Book a table at The Garden Cafe or Botanical Rooms restaurants, or for something more on the go, The Story of Gardening, Roman Villa and Cyder Bar all have great grab-and-go options available throughout the day.
We also welcomed back our pre-bookable Cyder Bar picnics available throughout the week - fresh produce from Somerset, as well as delicacies from our Sister Estates, perfectly paired with a garden view.
Over the weekends we fired up the BBQ's and served our classic estate fare cooked over coals.
The Midweek Programme
Some joined our tree surgeons in action in the woodlands, while others tried their hands at botanical watercolours. Guests enjoyed tours of the kitchen gardens, explored behind the scenes in the greenhouses and signed up for demonstrations on everything from composting to propagation. Here are a few highlights from the programme...
Symphony of Colour
In homage to the estate’s horticultural history – in particular the legacy of Nori and Sandra Pope – Spring 2026 the gardens featured a brand new planting scheme.
The ‘Symphony of Colour’, named after the Pope’s explanation of the colour harmonies in their planting, brought bold swathes of colour to the Victorian Beds, Scented Gardens and Colour Gardens. During the show things were in full, spectacular bloom!
The Finale Weekend
Saturday was all about celebration. Colour, craft and country traditions enlivened the gardens - and our 'Maggie on the Green' communal art project and Maypole and Morris dancing were a hit with Newts and Newtlings alike!
For the green-fingered enthusiasts, our Plant Fair offered a chance to take away some beauties for your own garden, alongside The Soil Ecology Lab who invited guest to bring a soil or compost sample from home and see what's really going on beneath the surface.
The Big Newt BioBlitz
On the final day of the show we conducted an estate-wide Bio-Blitz. Focusing on the diversity of our flora and fauna, we shared ideas on creating eco-friendly gardens, showed camera-trap screenings of wildlife spotted across the estate, and invited everyone to take part in wildlife counts, from butterfly spotting to insect ID-sweeps in the meadows.