Chelsea Flower Show Garden Tours

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the world's most prestigious horticultural event, held each May in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London. For garden travellers, it is an essential reference point — not simply as a spectacle, but as an annual survey of where garden design, plant breeding and horticultural craftsmanship currently stand.

Our tours combine a full day at the Chelsea Flower Show with five or six days visiting the finest gardens in England — Kent and Sussex, Kent Surrey and Sussex, or the Cotswolds, depending on which departure you choose. Every tour is small-group and escorted, with an expert garden-specialist tour leader throughout.

What the Chelsea Flower Show is

Chelsea is not a garden — it is a competitive exhibition. The show gardens are purpose-built to the highest standards, assessed by RHS judges and awarded gold, silver-gilt, silver or bronze medals. The Great Pavilion displays cut flowers, floral art, nursery exhibits and horticultural collections from around the world. For garden designers, plantsmanship is on display at a level you will not find anywhere else.

What makes Chelsea exceptional for garden travellers, as opposed to day-trippers, is the ability to see a show garden in the context of a week spent visiting real, mature, working gardens. A designer whose show garden you have just admired may have influenced a garden you visited two days before. The connections only become visible when you spend time in both.

Gardens on the programme

All our Chelsea tour programmes are designed around the best gardens in southern England, selected for their quality, their instructiveness and their suitability for extended visits. Depending on your departure, the programme may include Sissinghurst, Great Dixter, RHS Wisley, Hidcote, Kiftsgate Court, High Beeches, Leonardslee, Nymans, Wakehurst and Kew Gardens — a range that represents the full scope of English garden tradition from the seventeenth century to the present.

Choosing your tour

We offer three distinct departures for the Chelsea Flower Show, each based in a different part of southern England and visiting a different selection of gardens. The Kent and Sussex programme focuses on the world-class gardens of the two counties that have produced more important gardens than anywhere else in England. The Kent, Surrey and Sussex programme adds RHS Wisley and a wider range of National Trust properties. The Cotswolds programme offers a gentler landscape and a programme centred on the Arts and Crafts garden tradition.

All three include a full day at the Chelsea Flower Show and travel from and to London.

When Chelsea takes place

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is held during the third week of May each year. Press and RHS members attend during the first two days; the show opens to the public from the Wednesday. Our tours are scheduled to attend on Wednesday or Thursday of show week, which combines good access with full gardens.