The place to be seen daaarling!

Well its been a few weeks since the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and pretty soon I will have to change my tune and talk about another event - but not yet!

As you may or may not know (depending on how many of my blogs you have read - eh hem!), this was the first year that I headed up the sales for the event - adopting Chelsea as my own project from the sales and marketing, fulfilment to some operational support onsite. Happily, I can say that this was our best year yet on the sales front - a testimony to changing times in the economy, the continued focus on hospitality as a indispensible business tool and of course, the phenomenal popularity of the show.

It was great to see so many old faces (not necessarily indicative of the age of my clients) - and I was delighted to welcome many new ones to the village this year. We had a lot of first timers and so this made it even more exciting for me, watching the picture I paint before hand become a reality for those who have never attended before.

For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of seeing the village yourselves it can best be described as a peaceful haven, away from the hustle and bustle of the show. Pavilions are nestled in a private garden, in an L-shape; scattered with garden furniture and parasols, with wooden decking, water features and local artwork. Typically you will find hospitality guests chatting in the sunshine - Pimm's in hand and the summery tones of the Spanish guitar in the air.

Client feedback was universally glowing with a focus on the fantastic food and attentive service - and having witnessed the hard work of the events team behind the scenes it was my absolute pleasure to forward on the many complimentary and appreciative emails received from clients around the Prestige team.

Lots of early starts and late nights, several laps around the show ground daily - and I confess the odd glass of champers or Pimm's with a client or two - made for a very broken Lorraine by the end of the week; but I loved it. There is nothing better than witnessing first-hand all your plans and hard work come to fruition - and there is a lovely sense of fellowship onsite between us Prestigers that comes with sleep deprivation!