Chelsea Fringe

The Chelsea Fringe is coming! The first ever Chelsea Fringe will begin on Saturday 19th May and run for three weeks, at a host of different venues and settings across London.

The Fringe was the brainchild of Tim Richardson, the garden historian, who as the theatre critic of Country Life for 20 years, covered the Edinburgh Fringe many times. Lying in bed one morning he conjured up the idea of the Chelsea Fringe, which he said “would involve events with flowers, gardens and gardening right across London, from community-run veg gardens, to on-street horticultural happenings and avant-garde art”. It would, he said, “shine a light on projects that are going on anyway and highlight them by adding more colour”.

The Fringe is a brand new initiative, entirely volunteer-run in its first year. It is independent of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show but does have its support.

Some of the Chelsea Fringe events happening around London include:

The Bicycling Beer Garden

The Bicycling Beer Garden will be cycling around London, saying hello to other Fringe events and spreading the word about the festival during its launch weekend. Volunteers will be handing out planted beer cans for people to take home and plant in their gardens and on their balconies.

Chelsea Fringe Garden Party

The garden party will be held at the Garden Museum. There will be music, food, dancing and interactive entertainment from 3pm till late. Tickets are £6-£8 and entertainment will be provided by the likes of

the original Guerilla Gardener  himself, Richard Reynolds in his Liberty print upholstered garden shed DJ booth.

Frontline Tour of Guerrilla Gardens of SE1

There is a network ,in SE1, of mature and seasonal guerrilla gardens each with a story to tell about how they come to still be there, despite a remarkable absence of paperwork or permissions. To take a tour of the gardens meet at the Elephant and Castle north roundabout at 2pm on Sunday 20 May. Places are limited so click here to find out more.

There is loads of exciting stuff happening over the three weeks, to find out about all the events visit The Chelsea Fringe's What's On page.

All photos courtesy of Chelsea Fringe.