Salisbury Cathedral in historic Wiltshire, England.
A beauty, inside and out. Always a pleasure, but transformed into something really special with the addition of vast amounts of flowers and foliage.
One venue, 800 years of history and a floral explosion created using around 30,000 blooms.
Salisbury Cathedral was transformed into a floral wonderland as it hosted ‘Celebration: A Festival of Flowers’
What was Salisbury Cathedral celebrating?
The festival of flowers was originally planned to take place in 2020, marking 800 years since the laying of the cathedral foundation stone, but Covid restrictions led to rescheduling.
The rescheduled festival was adjusted to include some beautiful floral celebrations of the Queens Platinum Jubilee. Including this thing of beauty:
The famous purple ermine trimmed Coronation robes, recreated in pampas grass, seeds and pressed leaves. The elements were sprayed for colour and then carefully stitched together.
There’s an estimated 300 hours of work in this piece alone.
At the opposite end of the festival, there is a celebration of the Queens earlier years. A floral reimagining of the royal nursery included vintage toys and a pampas grass blanket with hundreds of tiny orange, yellow and cream blooms.
Celebration: A Festival of Flowers
The main body of the cathedral was transformed into a sea of pink blooms and love hearts. The hanging hearts were created by local day centres, care homes and schools.
I love pink flowers and many of my favourites were here- peonies, hydrangea and roses interspersed with lots of delicate gypsophila.
Never mind Christmas, I think peony season is the most wonderful time of the year.
The floral artists involved in staging the show were given the brief ‘celebration’ and it came to life in hundreds of different ways, from the Banksy inspired to punk-gone-floral.
Despite the vast amount of flowers and resources used in the show, a huge push has been made towards sustainability.
Many materials used were repurposed and all displays foam free. Florist foam of old is bad news, it doesn’t break down in landfill and can’t be composted.
The Salisbury Cathedral Meadow
It wasn’t all about carefully curated displays. The exit was home to a mini meadow, a wild flower walk through complete with dried leaf butterflies and felted bees. A reminder that flowers are beautiful, but they also have important purpose.
It made me want to go home and scatter some wildflower seeds.
The Festival of Flowers at Salisbury Cathedral ran from the 10th-15th of May 2022.
In 2025, Salisbury Cathedral is hosting another floral festival, this one being themed around ‘The Spirit of Water’ This will run from 13-18th May, tickets and details here.
If you find yourself in Salisbury but miss out on the Salisbury Cathedral festival, why not visit Salisbury’s very own secret garden?
Mompesson House Garden is located behind the National Trust managed Mompesson House just a few minutes stroll from Salisbury Cathedral. It’s a beautiful, historic garden with a lovely tea rooms. If you don’t want to explore the house, you can purchase a garden-only ticket.
Find more flower related articles here:
Tylney Hall Hotel & Gardens: A Hampshire Country House Stay
Exploring The Herrenhausen Gardens, Hannover
The Horsell Common Peace Garden
Helen x
Now that’s quite a different view of Salisbury Cathedral from the one I know. Thanks for sharing.
The flowers definitely brought something special to the place! It was a lovely day. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment.
What a stunning exhibition…..
It was absolutely beautiful, I can’t imagine the planning that went into it. I think it was truly enjoyed by all who visited. Thank you so much for reading and commenting, much appreciated.
Wow, that looks really lovely!
Thanks Anabel, it was gorgeous. And the scent…my Grandmother was a florist and the the scent took me right back to being in her shop.
Simply fabulous, Helen! I remember Durham Cathedral being decked in flowers a few years ago but I don’t remember the occasion. I will be back in England in early August but I’ll struggle to make it to Lincoln. You never know!
I did look at Durham to see if they were doing anything similar but sadly not just yet. They do a fabulous annual light show, too. All flowers are beautiful but to see them en masse like that and so creatively displayed was really lovely.
Lumiere in Durham used to be every 2 years. Not due till November next year I don’t think 🤔💗
I love peonies! They might be my favorite flower. One of my former residences had peonies planted in the front yard, and they were so pretty in season.
They are so beautiful. I love all the flowers that just grace us with a short season- blossom is another much loved bloom of mine. You just enjoy them while they are around. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment, means the world to me!
I enjoy church based flower festivals. This looks spectacular, but my favourite here is the butterfly from beech leaves, so simple so effective.
I loved the butterflies! And the felted bees. They were all beautifully done- simple but beautiful.
Oh my goodness, it’s amazing – Salisbury is beautiful any time, but especially with all these flowers 🙂
It was really lovely, and well balanced. You could still enjoy all the cathedral features but you were wandering through a floral fantasy to do it. A really nice way to spend the morning.
I went to Salisbury Cathedral relatively recently but it was in the winter. I would have loved to visit the festival of flowers. It looks amazing! Thanks for giving us the opportunity to experience the festival virtually. I have some deep red peonies growing in our garden. They are beautiful but never seem to last very long.
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed a virtual visit. I love all the flowers that have a fleeting season, I think they remind us just to enjoy what is good sometimes!
Looks like such a gorgeous and inspiring installation! Beautifully captured in your photos
Ah, this is wonderful. My eyes lit up at the Beatles arrangement and then, whaaat, The Sex Pistols in a cathedral!? How unusual, I wholeheartedly approve. By the way, is that Frank Zappa with the black beard and hat? Sladja and I have visited countless churches during our stay in The UK over the past five months and never grow bored by them. I’ll put Salisbury Cathedral on the list for next time.
The diversity and creativity of the arrangements was amazing! I guess you really can ‘say it with flowers’. The guy with the beard and hat was Guy Fawkes… but now you’ve said Zappa I can’t unsee it. Salisbury Cathedral is definitely worth a visit, there are some beautiful old buildings in the square around the Cathedral green too.
Stunning! I really enjoyed reading.
beautiful flower displays