New connections made at Cambridge Home + Garden Show

The first event of its kind was held in the Guildhall on Saturday, September 9.

More than 30 exhibitors from a diverse range of businesses demonstrated the services they provide, alongside a series of guest speakers, at the inaugural Cambridge Home + Garden Show, backed by the Cambridge Independent.

Landscape gardeners, interior designers and flooring experts shared the space with furniture makers, kitchen experts, building specialists, garden studio designers and artists as an impressive number of visitors made their way around a packed exhibition hall.

Speakers gave talks on subjects such as how to decorate your home from the garden, how to design the ideal kitchen and how to style your dining table, while food and drink was provided by a pop-up cafe.

The ‘Home of eccentric British design’, Mineheart, used its unique furniture to create a creative seating space next to the cafe and a consultation corner called ‘Ask Me Anything’ proved popular.

It was great to see such variety on show, and wonderful to witness the friendly interaction between exhibitors. Hopefully these new-found friendships will lead to future collaborations.

The public, too, seemed really interested in the stands and it appeared that no stall went unnoticed. As one exhibitor said to me, it will be interesting to see how many of the productive conversations and exchanging of details will be followed up over the coming months.

Organiser Jennifer Chong, who worked tirelessly on the show, was pleased with the way it went, telling the Cambridge Independent: “I think it was successful.

“I’ve managed to speak to all the exhibitors and everyone seems very happy with how it went – and it exceeded expectations, which is good.

“I had some positive feedback from visitors as well as they left, and the girls on the desk said that people had been asking if it’s going to be an annual event.

“People were pleased that it’s in Cambridge because they’re fed up of having to go to London or Birmingham for these events. That’s really nice to hear.”

Jennifer continued: “I’ve also seen a lot of collaboration between the exhibitors, which is another goldmine. A lot of people have said they’d be interested in doing it again and asked if I would consider doing it as a two-day event as well, over Saturday and Sunday.

“The fact that people turned up was great.”

Could the Cambridge Home + Garden Show be an annual event? “I would like it to be,” said Jennifer. “I think if people are interested enough to come again and they like the event – and the exhibitors feel like they want to keep coming back – I would definitely like to keep doing it.

“I’ve got lots of ideas as to how I’d like to grow and expand it.”

Watch this (exhibition) space.