More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
The annual Leeds Castle Festival of Flowers features a mysterious magical floral world created by international award-winning designers, with hours of dedication from the castle’s floristry team.
The fifth consecutive year of the festival will be officially opened on Saturday, September 23, by garden designer and television personality Joe Swift.
With the theme Enchanted Castle, visitors can follow pathways to secret rooms filled with floral designs, inspired by fairy tales.
A programme of demonstrations, specialist talks and daily garden tours are included in the entrance ticket.
It ran for many years from 1984 on a smaller scale, and the first ever was held in 1901, as the castle’s last private owner, Lady Olive Baillie, was well known for her elaborate floral displays at society house parties.
This year the festival has grown to include outside, making the most of the grounds.
Leeds Castle’s head florist, Louise Roots, said: “Once we decided on the Enchanted Castle theme, it opened up so many opportunities and was perfect for the setting.
“It is so appropriate and allows our designers such scope to be creative. The loveliest castle in the world is going to look breathtaking.”
DETAILS
The Leeds Castle Festival of Flowers runs from Saturday, September 23 to Thursday, September 28. For more details visit leeds-castle.com
I have worked at Leeds Castle for around 10 years...
I wanted to put Leeds Castle on the map for fine floristry and be known for our professional high standards that you would expect from such a prestigious venue. I am proud that we have achieved that and I know we have now built a strong reputation for good floristry. As a florist I now have a dream job. It gives me the opportunity to be involved in so many varied projects that it is difficult to compare it to another role. I also have the prettiest view from my office window.
I feel a huge responsibility to bring this event together. I have always had a vision of where I would like to see the festival go and year on year we are achieving this as our reputation for this event grows. I feel we are absolutely now on the floral calendar of events to visit and this year is set to be our biggest yet, it’s so exciting. As the reputation has grown more and more world-class, designers are offering to take part. It needs to be a slick operation and as we are working with a perishable product we need to work to a very tight deadline to ensure that every bloom is at peak condition and lasts well throughout the week.
That is my moment when I am filled with excitement mixed with nerves! The planning and set-up is my busiest time of the year. It is extremely busy hard work physically demanding. I do enjoy the atmosphere of having so many creative people at the castle. I feel a huge sense of pride once it is complete and excited to hear the reaction and feedback from our visitors. This year I am particularly excited because this year is so much bigger and I know they will not have seen anything like it before.
I love using seasonal flowers. I keep a close eye on what is popping up in the grounds and often hold back on some flowers available if they aren’t yet open in our gardens. I love scented garden roses such as Romantic Antique. My style is very romantic and opulent so I team with lots of rosehips, blackberries, seed heads, small chocolate Cosmos, Cafe au lait Dahlias and beautiful foliage for a very English garden look. I will also use fruits where possible such as figs and crab apples within displays to add interest and another texture. It is very difficult for me to pick a favourite flower. I love them all and that is why I do what I do.
