Heritage Highlights

From bell ringing to balloons, and flowers to football, Claire Saul samples some great ideas for days out this month

-  Claire Saul

The summer months always teem with events and opportunities for days out, but the fun isn’t over yet; this September also offers plenty of tempting options.

RHS Garden Wisley, near Woking in Surrey, celebrates the 30th anniversary of its flower show this month when more than 50 nurseries and specialist growers – including many RHS Chelsea 2022 gold medal winners – will be selling top-quality plants, trees and bulbs. They will be jostling for attention with traders offering a range of garden, home and lifestyle products. Three expert talks are scheduled each day at RHS Hilltop and speakers include award-winning no-dig author Stephanie Hafferty, television presenter Ade Sellars and Garden Ninja Lee Burkhill.

Key among the floral displays, the National Dahlia Society returns to the event with the National Dahlia Show, affording photo opportunities aplenty with rows of picture-perfect blooms. Also back this year is the Surrey branch of the National Association of Flower Arranging Societies with another imaginative selection of floral displays.

The Malvern Autumn Show, later in the month in Worcestershire, celebrates the approaching new season with an open-air RHS flower show, vegetable displays, cookery demonstrations, horticultural talks, crafts, vintage tractors and more.

From flora to fauna as a spectacular host of hot-air balloons takes to the skies over the Longleat Estate near Warminster as part of Sky Safari, the biggest annual gathering of balloons in the UK. The Wiltshire estate is no stranger to exotic animals, having redefined the world of tourism in 1966 when it launched the only drive-through safari park outside Africa, but these creatures are rather different.