The English Country Garden Festival 2018

With the wet cold winter hopefully firmly behind us, and as our gardens at Coombe Trenchard spring into life, we are looking forward to hosting our annual garden show once again for the 7th year running.

Each year on the first weekend of June, Coombe Trenchard opens its gates to exhibitors and visitors from the South West and beyond, to share the tranquility of our gardens and celebrate English Country Garden life.

Specialist plant growers provide a riot of colour to delight our visitors, as well as being on hand to offer lots of great tips and advice. There will be many vintage home and garden treasures too, as well as unique artisan craft makers.

Children’s Hospice South West will be providing a delicious selection home baked cakes and teas on the sunny south terrace, using beloved recipes tried, tested and shared by us all here at Coombe Trenchard.

And once again there will be Edwardian croquet amongst a host of traditional family garden games for all to enjoy.

Freshly prepared hot lunches will also be available on the Italian terrace, and of course there will be ice cream...

The show this year has been rebranded using our stunning peacock ‘Jasper’ as inspiration, so look out for our new road directional signs and our promotional pieces on social media, on the dedicated page on our website, and in many local publications all of whom help us bang the drum for the event, and are great advocates for the festival and of the on-going garden restoration works here at Coombe Trenchard.

We are delighted to be supported again this year by Devon Life & Cornwall Life magazines, and you will find an article about our gardens and the event, to include a '2 for 1 Voucher' in this months edition out now.

The English Country Garden Festival is being held on Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd June, with gates open from 10am - 5pm.

Entrance fees: £6 adults, children under 14 free, dogs always very welcome.

Myself, Lorna and our trusted team of loyal supporters, family and friends are counting down the days, and look forward to welcoming everyone.

The Home & Garden Show 2016

In early June, our normally quiet and serene gardens became a hive of activity. Delightful assortments of plants and flowers were unloaded and carried down to their stalls, stretching out like delicate little rainbows across the lawns. Kettles were boiled, cakes baked and Big Pan Parties delicious creations filled the air with appetite inducing deliciousness. Highly talented local artists, food producers and green fingered folk unpacked their wares and the gates were opened: Coombe Trenchard’s Home & Garden Show 2016 was in full swing.  

Thankfully the weather was humid but dry, warranting one (or two!) trips to the Icicle Ice Cream Tricycle to cool down. Picnic blankets were unrolled and wallets unfurled as the visitors kept on coming. We welcomed over 2,000 people during the whole weekend; an amazing amount of friendly faces, happy smiles and wagging tails keen to discover new additions to their home and gardens.

Coombe Trenchard itself came to life, revelling in so many welcome guests and showcasing just how much our beautiful home has to offer. We overheard innumerable snippets of conversation enthralled with picturing wedding celebrations on the terrace and bridal gowns in the woodland. The atmosphere was happy and content; no doubt in part owing to such a delicious array of treats to savour (we had the best brownie of our lives from Column Bakehouse). Children swooned over The Ark Man’s divine hand carved animals while their mothers sampled The Lavender Lady’s natural treats. Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Visit Dartmoor educated lovely visitors on our precious part of Devon. After picking up advice from our friendly plant suppliers, legs were rested and much needed cups of tea enjoyed. 

Children’s Hospice Southwest were delighted with the funds raised from their tent on the croquet lawn, and received many pledges of support for their Silver Anniversary Tea Party Celebrations. You can find out more and get involved by following this link. 

As 5pm approached, visitors followed the woodland path back to their cars, laden with armfuls of new favourite things. Exhibitors dispersed (with much lighter loads than when they arrived) and we cracked open a well-earned bottle of wine.  

You can watch a slideshow of some images of our wonderful weekend below. 

A huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone that came together to put on such a glorious weekend; exhibitors, staff, guests and their canine companions! There are too many exhibitors to name, but you were all fabulous; your hard work and huge effort is much appreciated.  We’re already looking forward to our next Home & Garden Show, and hope that you can all join us once more.

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Sarah xx