Blooming good time in store for green-fingered fans of royalty

GREEN-FINGERED royalists have been given the opportunity to dine with the head gardeners of the sovereign’s estates for £120.

The event is part of a new nine-day flower festival called Sandringham in Bloom, which “celebrates all things flora and fauna” at the King and Queen’s Norfolk home.

Attendees at the four-course dinner, taking place on June 7, will be in the company of the head gardeners from Buckingham Palace, Windsor Garden, Sandringham Estate and Dumfries House.

The meal – held at Sandringham Restaurant – will feature ingredients grown in each of the royal gardens, many of which are personally overseen and tended to by the King, such as honey, rhubarb and herbs.

Some of the dishes will also include whiskey, estate gin and beer, and attendees will be treated to a musical accompaniment from harpist Caroline Hall.

Organisers said that the interior of Sandringham will be decorated using British seasonal flowers sourced from a non-profit florist membership association that champions independent growers of British flowers across the country.

Using seasonal blooms from the company Flowers from the Farm, a series of displays will be created using a mixture of species including wildflower mixes, dahlias, zinnias, sunflowers, cosmos and snapdragons.

One of the displays in the house will be a tribute to the late Queen – a floral replica of her 1953 coronation robe, made by 24 floral arrangers from Salisbury Cathedral. They will be a combination of pampas grass, ruscus leaves, ferns and helichrysum.

The nine-day event, from June 3 to 11, will also feature a series of activities for younger visitors in the potting shed as well as a gin bar in the gardens.