"Bob Hobden" writes:

Anthony wrote

I left it too late to get an all day ticket, so I'll be heading down
for 3:30 on Tuesday which will also be the first time I've been there
on a members day.

Anthony, please let us know how it is in the afternoon when you get back.
I've wondered for a while if the afternoon/evening might be less crowded as
most people seem to want to be there first thing and it does seem to clear a
bit after lunch. We always wanted to be on the tube out of town before the
rush hour so never stayed that late.

Right, bearing in mind this is the first time I've been on a members
day and this year the show runs for five days instead of four. Both of
which will affect numbers...

I found it a lot easier to get round the show this year, the only time
I wanted a nice big sword to hack my way closer to something was
around 4pm trying to get a look at some of the small show gardens
along the eastern edge of Ranelagh Gardens.

Getting on the "Fast track" past the big show gardens along the Rock
Garden Bank took a bit more than five minutes queueing at 4:15ish. The
fast track lets you look at the gardens from a walkway on the opposite
side of the path past the gardens, not ideal but it does give you an
idea about whether you want to bother to queue for longer on the slow
track, which is the path past them. The only one that impressed me
enough to want to look at from close up was the Bradstone garden, so I
went back at about 7pm having bought a cup of tea thinking I could
drink it in the queue. Except I was able to walk straight in.

Navigating to the show ground from Sloane Square tube station was
easier in the afternoon, just look for the greatest concentration of
gardening related carrier bags and walk upstream. I actually arrived
in the vicinity at just after 3pm, so I wandered round to the
Embankment, parked myself on a bench and read for 20 mins.

All bags are being searched on the way in this year, my reflective
bright yellow road-menders waistcoat caused some bewilderment until I
pointed out it went with the bike lights in another pocket of the
backpack. Couple of miles from the station here, and the journey back
was going to be in twilight.

My feet hurt, I escaped with only four packets of cactus seeds and one
of Meconopsis Betonicifolia, half a dozen catalogues, two packs of 50
plant labels, and three pages of notes, mostly about upright ferns and
interesting Acers.

Next visit will definitely be on a members day again, but I'll
probably go for an all day ticket aiming to arrive at about 1pm, do a
fast trip round, park myself on the grass for an hour or two, then go
back for a slower pass by the interesting bits noted on the earlier
run.

Anthony