Seeing as its Mothers Day weekend here in the UK, I brought my garden mad Mum along for some extra daughter brownie points.
Aside from being excited to visit an Iconic London building that I hadn't ever been to before- I was also hoping to pick up some tips for making my Balcony Garden bloom. Yes, odd that a 24 year old would want to garden but when surrounded by so much concrete, its amazing how a dash of colour on your balcony can brighten things up a little! For those of you that follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the odd post with #Bulbwatch tag- I can now proudly say that I have grown Moroccan Mint (not Basil as initially hoped), Pink Hyacinth and Orange Ballerina Tulips without killing them! YAY!
Okay so what did I think of my visit?
The Venue is impressive, and on a sunny warm day such as today, it was gorgeous and made me want to kick my shoes off to walk barefoot in the park.
A huge grumble which I should get out of the way as soon as possible- there was a serious issue with sign-age and directions. Plenty of confusion surrounded me when fellow visitors got off at Alexandra Palace train station. There were no signs pointing the way or Marshall's to greet and guide- Mum & I ended up walking all the way up the steepest part of the hill and around the whole venue before finding the entrance. When we did finally enter the show- we were hot, thirsty and bothered. Not fun.
There wasn't as many gardening stalls at the exhibit as expected, which was a shame as I really wanted to find something kitsch to bring home for my balcony garden. I did however nearly purchase some ducklings that were on sale- oh my lord, they were so so cute. I love ducks.....
The food related stalls weren't as diverse as hoped- too much gluten and not enough fresh produce. Again, I was very surprised seeing as the exhibit was about gardening and growing-your-own. Where the Salad bars at, yo?
The star attraction, for me, was the Maldon Theatre where I sat down to watch Phil Vickery cook up 3 delicious looking (and smelling) veggie dishes using tinned, fresh & frozen Veg. His daughter also helped her flustered father in the cooking, which was great to see - I think more youngsters should be taught cooking skills. Massive downside had to be that Health & Safety regulations meant that no samples of food could be given out afterwards!BOO! Phil was the perfect host and answered all questions up close afterwards (including a few from my Mum), and he even stood by the chefs knives stall later on with us to chat with us about his recommendation on what to purchase. If you are reading this Phil, I want that bean salad recipe!!
Maldon Salt are currently running a competition Online where a lucky pair could win a trip to River Cottage HQ .... all you need to do is tweet your favourite #flavourofspring (using this #) to @MaldonSalt or, get onto their Facebook page. Totally worth a dabble, no?
The competition closes on 7th April so hurry (I shall cross my fingers for you)...
Lots of Love
xxx TTN xxx
** I was kindly sent some tickets to attend the Edible Garden Event by Maldon Salt to promote Maldon's latest Competition- all thoughts and opinions are my own.**
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