Flower Show in new location ‘huge success’ say visitors and committee

A record number of visitors came to enjoy the Binfield Heath Flower and Dog show in its new Sonning Common Road location on Bank Holiday Saturday, say the organisers. After taking place opposite Holmwood in Shiplake Row for more than 75 years, the event moved to the other side of the village in 2025.

“The Flower and Dog Show Committee want to thank everyone who supported last year's show in its new venue. It was a huge success.  We had so many new visitors and lots of incredibly positive feedback,” said show chair Caroline Dowling.

"We have been so fortunate to use Holmwood’s field over the years and greatly appreciated the hospitality of Jerry Hall and her predecessors – the Marks family, the Talfourd Cooks and the Makowers, who have all welcomed us. 

“Now we have new hosts, Tristan and Jemma Phillimore, who have offered us the chance to try out a different site for this much-loved village event. Taking part in the Flower Show in one way or another is so much part of life in Binfield Heath. 

“Thank you to the amazing group of volunteers, who did a phenomenal job setting up, working at and putting away the show. Also to our sponsors and those who generously gave us the raffle prizes, as well as the judges and Jeff Banks for handing out the cups. Thank you too, to all the local business, food and charity stalls and also the children's entertainers and to the record number of dogs entered in the dog show.”

Scroll to the bottom of the page for photos by Vin Wilgoss from the 2025 show

Photos from the Sixties… art competition winners from Dunsden and below the fancy dress contest

The Flower Show has evolved, changed and grown over the years and now has a famous tea tent, food and drink from local hostelries and artisan stalls alongside the traditional sideshows. The Woodley Concert Band long ago replaced the original military band of the Oxfordshire Hussars. Punch and Judy shows, treasure hunts, children's fancy dress, hoopla stalls, splat-the-rat and painting competitions were introduced and still come and go. The Dog Show, linked to Crufts, is now a highlight of the day.

Designer Jeff Banks from Crowsley joined other famous names who have opened the show and presented prizes including Mary Berry and Jerry Hall in 2024, Antony Worrall Thompson at the millennium and Vince Hill in 2003.

But most important is how much the community values the show and joins in – to set it up, enjoy the day, even if it pours with rain, then take it down again and start planning for next year. Long may the Binfield Heath Flower Show continue.

Story of 75 years

The Flower Show celebrated its 75th appearance in 2024, when celebrities, Mary Berry and Jerry Hall joined hundreds of local people to mark the occasion. But its history goes back much further. Holmwood first hosted the show in 1882 when Col Baskerville of Crowsley Park presented the prizes. The following year, it took place in Crowsley, attracting over 700 entries, with more than 100 in the various potato classes alone. 

The show then moved between Coppid Hall, Crowsley Park, Shiplake House and Holmwood until the start of the First World War. It returned in the 1940s as part of a wartime fund-raising gymkhana and settled into the Flower Show field when the Makower family lived at Holmwood. The forerunner to the Flower Show committee was an enthusiastic group of head gardeners from the larger houses around. Since then, only one year has been missed – in the 2020 pandemic.

From its earliest beginnings, the Flower Show, like other local summer festivals, encouraged people to cultivate their gardens. At its heart lay the still enthusiastically contested competition of fruit, flowers, and vegetables, now affiliated to the RHS.  It soon included home baking as well as arts and crafts sections. Local people from miles around and of all ages took part – and still do.

The produce show grew to include sports, games and stalls. There were cricket matches and, later, a tug-of-war between the five pubs which flourished in the village. Farmers gave tractor rides and showed shire horses and later, a vintage car display became popular.