BBC Gardeners' World Live - Show Interviews | 18-21 June 2026 | Birmingham NEC
Getting inspired by amazing activities and areas at the UK’s premier garden event, Gardeners’ World Live at NEC Birmingham. Explore beautiful Show Gardens, pick up top gardening tips from the BBC Gardeners’ World Live Theatre, enjoy the Good Food Show Summer, shop for plants and gardening kits, and bring amazing ideas to life to transform your garden.
NEW HIGHLIGHTS include Professor Alice Roberts‘ headline Show Garden; the BBC Introducing Stage; Smoke & Fire’s Barbecue Festival; style in abundance at the QVC Outdoor Living Stage including demos from Ninja and Neom; appearances from Rekha Mistry and Jekka McVicar on the Grow Your Own Stage, BBC Newsround presenter De-Graft Mensah championing Gardeners’ World’s Make a Metre Matter campaign and much more!
BBC Gardeners' World Live - Show Interviews | 18-21 June 2026 | Birmingham NEC
Francis Tophill - BBC Gardeners' World Autumn Fair - 2025 Show Preview
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Frances is involved with the RHS campaign for school gardening and is passionate about enthusing young people to get into horticulture. She is working on a number of community gardening projects in the South West and is also helping the redevelopment of some costal gardens that were damaged by the 2014 storms. This is a particular passion of hers having grown up by the sea and was also part of her degree specialisation.
Frances is a popular choice for gardening talks and has appeared at Blenheim Palace Flower Show, Hampton Court Flower Show and the Eden Project Green Fingers Festival to name a few. Hailing from Deal in Kent, Frances now lives in Exeter having completed her BSc in Horticulture with Plantmanship at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 2013. Frances got into gardening from an early age, helping out around the garden at home and after overly ambitiously designing a terraced landscape in a planter, given to her by her mum, age 7, she was hooked. As well as all things gardening Frances is a budding crafter and currently doing a pottery course.
Frances’ first book, First Time Gardener, was published in 2015 and her 2nd book, Container Gardening will be published in April this year. She has also written a column for Coast magazine on highs and lows of coastal gardening.