BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair - 11-13 September 2026

Saul Walker fell in love with horticulture through his Grandparents passion for visiting historic houses and gardens, and after a brief spell as an Archaeologist, he went to train and work as a Gardener for the National Trust at Antony House in Cornwall.

After many years there he was accepted to study on the prestigious 3-year Kew Diploma of Botanical Horticulture at RBG, Kew and was exposed to the fantastic plant collections in the gardens and glasshouses, as well as travelling to Australia, Southern Spain and the French Riviera to study plants in their native habitats. Following his time at Kew he spent a couple of years as part of the Show management teams for both the RHS Hampton Court Palace and RHS Chelsea Flower Show respectively, however he was unable to resist the call back to his native Devon, where he is now the Head Gardener of Stonelands House- a privately owned 10-acre garden. Saul’s speciality interests include Woodland Gardens, Orchids, Exotic and Aline plants. A member of the RHS Tender Plant Committee and Trustee of The Hardy Plant Society and the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, he also co-hosts the Talking Heads Podcast with Lucy Chamberlain. 

Lucy was raised at her parents’ market garden in Essex, before venturing to further her horticultural education at Writtle and Wye colleges.

With an Honours Degree in plant sciences she then worked at the Royal Horticultural Society Garden (RHS) Wisley. After six years she left to pursue a career as a garden writer – first, for four years at Amateur Gardening magazine and then for six years as Editor of Grow Your Own magazine. She is now Head Gardener at East Donyland Hall – a 100- acre private estate which is home to a sizeable walled garden. Lucy is author of the book, The RHS Step-by-Step Veg Patch, and she also regularly writes for gardening magazines such as Gardeners’ World, The Garden and Amateur Gardening. She regularly podcasts with her Head Gardener friend, Saul Walker, on the Talking Heads gardening podcast. Lucy is also the gardening expert for BBC Essex radio, and she won Practical Journalist of the Year in 2020. 

Neil Gow - Best New Plant Winner - Sweet Pea Peter Seabrook

Bob Sweet - Horticultural Director GWL

Chris Collins - Garden Organic - Gold Award winner

Cathy Perry - Beautiful Borders Platinum Award 

Darren is a multi award winning garden designer, broadcaster, lecturer and garden writer.
He has spent his career delivering and managing horticultural and other land based qualifications as well as running a successful garden design consultancy. He was one of the first recipients of the City and Guilds medal of excellence.

Darren regularly has articles published in the gardening press and is the permanent gardening expert for BBC WM 95.6 in the West Midlands; know as “ the Laughing Gardener” he was nominated for a garden media guild award in 2016 and 2017 for his novel and inspirational approaches to gardening issues and problems.

Darren is a garden judge at National shows and also mentors school children through the green plan it Challenge run by the Royal Horticultural Society; aimed at getting children involved in gardening and living healthier lifestyles.

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Arit Anderson will be at BBC Gardeners’ World Live 2022 on Sunday.

Find out when she’s on the BBC Gardeners’ World Live Theatre here.

Link: Book Tickets

Arit will also be at BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair on Saturday 3 September.

Leading the production team, ensuring all plants are grown in the correct environment with the necessary nutrition, watering and cultural techniques. I also lead the team for all plant production and preparation for show plants.

Find out when he’s on the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Stage.

Known as ‘The Peoples Gardener’, Matt Biggs trained at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and has presented a number of television programmes, written several books and undertake lectures and talks. He is best known for his regular appearances on Radio 4 gardeners’ question time.