Heading to Chelsea Flower show this week? 3 insider tips to know before you go
Make the most of your day at Chelsea with these top tips from seasoned visitors
Over the next four days, thousands of garden lovers will pass through the gates of the 2026 Chelsea Flower Show. Yesterday, the woman&home team was lucky enough to get early access to the world's greatest flower show, and, in between marvelling at all the show-stopping gardens, we caught some seasoned visitors for their top tips on how to really make the most of the day. And there's a few names you just might recognise.
Armed with a mic and a drive to get you some helpful insider knowledge, woman&home editor-in-chief Hannah Fernando asked a few regulars for the inside scoop on Chelsea Flower Show. And they really came up with the goods....
1. Look around the back
If there's one thing we learned this year about Chelsea Flower Show, it's that there is a lot to see, so you need to use your time wisely. And if there's a celebrity who can give some insider tips on what not to miss, it's Jo Whiley. "You need a whole day to walk around, see everything and just take it all in," she told us.
A keen gardener herself, Jo has a long-standing working relationship with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, primarily as an RHS Ambassador. So what's her tip to look out for? "The artisan gardens, they're always really lovely - the tiny gardens," she says.
And it's a sentiment shared by fellow broadcasters Fiona Bruce and Clare Balding. "I really like the little gardens around the back - they are much more accessible for what you might be able to do at home," Fiona told us.
Clare added: "I quite like the small gardens around the back, I like the Japanese gardens and the sculptures."
2. Saturday sell-off
Another name well versed in the runnings of Chelsea Flower Show is BBC broadcaster Sophie Raworth. Working as a host of the event for the last 12 years, Sophie knows all the inside tricks and tips to get the most out of a day at Chelsea. And one of her best, perhaps oddly, focuses on the show ending.
"There is a sell-off day on Saturday, where they ring a bell at 3pm in the afternoon, and any garden here that is selling off plants, people just queue up and buy them," Sophie told us. "I love seeing people leave with these enormous flowers and trying to carry them back on the tube. It’s a good way of getting some plants at the end of the day."
woman&home editor-in-chief Hannah Fernando gets the inside scoop from BBC presenter Sophie Raworth
3. Wear flat, comfy shoes
This might seem like an obvious one, but it's one worth reiterating, just incase you have a sudden panic and want to make a last-minute change. Don't do it. The grounds are huge and if you plan to see everything you will be doing a lot of walking.
Jo Whiley told us, while wearing trainers, 'I got some really nice Chloe platforms that I was going to wear, and then you arrive and think 'theres no way I can walk around in those'.
Again, Clare Balding echoed Jo's thoughts. 'That is my biggest tip - comfy shoes! And then layers and a brolly'.
