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RHS Chatsworth Flower Show: First look at 'inspiring' gardens

RHS A garden near Chatsworth HouseRHS
The showground for the RHS Chatsworth show covers 43 acres

The first new Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) show in a decade is set to open to the public.

The show at Chatsworth, a Derbyshire stately home, features eight display gardens.

Organisers are expecting almost 90,000 people to visit the event, officially opened by Alan Titchmarsh and Mary Berry, over five days.

Anna Skibniewski-Ball, assistant manager, said she hoped it would be "truly wonderful and inspiring".

The show, which opens to the public on Wednesday, runs until Sunday at the Duke of Devonshire's Chatsworth estate.

Visitors are being warned to expect mixed weather conditions.

Some of the judging has been postponed until later in the week because of rain and high winds.

RHS Alan Titchmarsh and Mary BerryRHS
Alan Titchmarsh and Mary Berry opened the show

Alan Titchmarsh, a vice president of the RHS, said he was pleased Chatsworth had got its own show.

He said: "It's immensely exciting, we come to the county fair every year and love the Derbyshire Dales, the folk of Derbyshire are friendly, it's great for it to get its own RHS show."

RHS Raymond BlancRHS
Chef Raymond Blanc was among the first people to get a look at Chatsworth's displays
RHS A garden with a giant ant in it near Chatsworth HouseRHS
A number of the gardens sit in the shadow of Chatsworth House

The RHS, which famously runs the Chelsea Flower Show, said the theme for Chatsworth was "design revolutionaries."

RHS Cow in a garden at ChatsworthRHS
A number of hand-painted cows form part of the Experience Peak District and Derbyshire Garden

The showground at Chatsworth, which covers 43 acres, will feature more than 350 exhibitors from across the UK.

Three temporary bridges, the longest of which is over 40m in length, have been installed to allow people to explore gardens on both sides of the River Derwent.

RHS Dancers from the London Contemporary Ballet Theatre performRHS
Earlier, dancers from the London Contemporary Ballet Theatre braved the wet weather to perform in one of the gardens

The show's largest garden, a modernist quarry plot, features more than 7,000 bedding plants, a 10-metre tall oak tree and more than 20 slate monoliths.

RHS Jackie Sutton's Just Add Water gardenRHS
Jackie Knight has aimed to create a "natural and calming space in which to relax" in her Just Add Water garden
RHS Gardens at ChatsworthRHS
The show celebrates all aspects of Derbyshire life
RHS Quarry gardenRHS
Quarry Garden, designed by Paul Hervey-Brookes, is the largest on the site
RHS Flowerpot man at RHS ChatsworthRHS
Plants and flowers on show come in all different shapes and sizes
RHS Cruse Bereavement Care: A Time For Everything garden at RHS ChatsworthRHS
Neil Sutcliffe's creation will take visitors on "a personal and shared family experience of the journey of terminal illness and death"
RHS A gorilla at the Chatsworth ShowRHS
A gorilla statue is one of the more unusual exhibits
RHS Flowers at the RHS ChatsworthRHS
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