The Royal Horticultural Society

Chelsea Flower Show May 2023Overpriced, overcrowded and far too commercilalised. Extremely disappointed as had been wanting to go all my life.

Annie Gregory Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

The parks are not fit for the amount of visitors at both Harlow Carr & Bridgewater. Just bring your own food & refreshments then you will be able to enjoy it. Queues for food were worse than in the Soviet Russia. In Disney resorts you can get food in 5 minutes! In RHS I was in the queue for the ice creams for 40 and then for 30 minutes for the food. Venues need more staff, more food/drink/ice creams/coffee stations! And better management of those beautiful places!

Mark Greenop Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

RHS flower show Tatton park 2023Very disappointed. Difficult to see anything due to crowds Loads of stalls selling clothes, homeware, arts and crafts plus overpriced gardening gear and plants. Very few gardens and plant displays. A nice but small floral marquee. Hugely overpriced food (£10 for a sausage in a bread roll, £13 for a small chucken wrap). Huge queues for coffee as most food vendors don’t offer hot drinks. Then nowhere to sit and not enough shaded seating.False ‘show price offers’ - not any cheaper than shops and when checking bank account, more money taken than shown on receipt - £129 on receipt but £140 showing on statement….now have to try and get it back (beware if you buy from the hozelock stand!).Took almost an hour to get off site at the end of the day!

Alison Clark Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

I became a member and purchased 2 show package for tatton at Cottons hotel. We were in the same room and I could have paid the same for 2 rooms on booking .com. we also were taken from a nice breakfast to be given a cheap buffet breakfast.The package was a very expesive dissapointment and you could book it cheaper even directly with the hotel.The rhs website is difficult to use and I find google easier.

Janice Copestake Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

We have visited RHS Tatton for the past seventeen years. The show gardens were often jaw-dropping - exciting and aspirational in equal measure. We have so many photographs and videos of designs we loved, and wanted to emulate. The financial crisis of 2008-9-10 clearly had an impact, however, and the big-ticket sponsorship dried up, but the show adapted, and the ‘back-to-back’ gardens, for example, and the Young Designer of the Year competition, ensured that the sense of energy was maintained. For a while. Over the past few years, the soul of the show has been lost, and this year was simply dreadful. The show gardens have been reduced to banal essays in the clichés of ‘sustainability’, - deeply ironic in the light of the oceans of over-priced imported tat groaning from the stands around the site. For this, we were charged in excess of £30 a ticket. My partner commented that we could have spent a few hours at Cheshire Oaks, called in at Bridgemere on the way home, and had a better experience - free. We are cancelling our membership. Will it make the slightest difference to the RHS? Of course not, but it’ll make us feel better…

Nick H Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

Travelled over 2hrs one way and planned accommodation around this event, when we realised the weather forecast was going to be heavy rain for several days we contacted customer service and the ticket line to see if we could exchange our tickets for an alternative show as we knew we wouldn't be able to enjoy it with the heavy rain and muddy conditions. Customer service were dismissive and offered no help or support just 'check the weather'. The ticket line explained that as it was the last day of the show and Tatton was the last show in the year therefore we were not eligible for exchange. I think this is appalling when any other day/show would have been exchangeable, the policy should apply to all tickets and we should have been allowed to exchange it for a show next year or for a voucher towards buying a ticket next year or similar. Due to this we ended up attending out of spite of losing our money on the tickets and not being able to afford to do anything else with our day instead, as this was an expense we could not afford to waste. When we arrived the ground conditions were super muddy as it had been raining for several hours during the night and previous day. The car park was a 20-30min walk from the show entrance, through muddy fields and woodland, none of this was made clear beforehand and I felt really bad for anyone who was elderly or had less mobility as this was not an easy/pleasant trek to get to the show. When we arrived all we could see were food/drink stalls and stalls selling trinkets, the kinds of things you'd see at a regular craft/food market. We had booked our tickets based on the reputation of shows like Chelsea and Hampton Court and expected to see gardens, plant displays etc, not hundreds of tents trying to get you to buy things you don't need. When we had already spent £30 to get in, we were certainly not planning on doing any shopping once we got there. We could have easily gotten the same experience for much cheaper at a food festival or ar

Jodie Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

Too many restrictions and entry limitations. So many of the houses and gardens that give discounted entry to RHS members only offer discounts on certain days or at limited times of the year! Very frustrating and not good value. Shame :-(

KGS Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

What a fab garden at Bridgewater. Lovely day thank you

J Duty Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

Wisley = Extremely expensive food two slices of bread a small piece of dried up chicken £5.95

Kevin bailey Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

Someone gave me rhs vouchers. Oh my goodness. Unless you live near enough to visit a store you have to send them the vouchers by mail with a printout of your order from the online shop and a cheque for anything above the order amount!!! Snail mail and cheques when they have an online shop.

Faith Brennan Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot