Outside pool terrace

The Diamante Beach Hotel in Calpe is the venue of the Home, Garden & Lifestyle Show... like a mini Ideal Home exhibition which is held in London every year. The 2 day event was on yesterday - Thursday 3rd and today - Friday 4th April, from 10:00am until 5:00pm. The sudden and unexpected "Sahara rain" which fell on Wednesday night left a covering of yellow sand around the entire pool area, but you would hardly ever know as the staff managed to get virtually everything cleaned up.... the only give away was the muddy water of the swimming pool!

Organiser Gina

I spoke to the organiser, Gina Marks who was delighted with the turnout on the first day - the 8 months of planning she told me had paid off! There are 90 stands in total, spread across seperate 3 areas - outside by the pool, downstairs and a huge hall upstairs. There were queues already waiting outside well before the opening time and coach loads of people being dropped off outside the hotel.

Chatting with Charlie

Throughout the day there were talks and demonstrations - with an informative cooking demo by local chef David of Patio de la Fuenta, which was well attended at the specially built poolside kitchen.

But one of the big draws of the day was celebrity gardening guru Charlie Dimmock - who many remember from her TV appearances on garden makeover show "Ground Force" alongside fellow presenters Alan Titchmarsh and Tommy Walsh. For some bizzare reason many men remembered her... I wonder if was something to do with undergarments - or lack of!

Charlie on onion inspection!

I spoke at length with Charlie who had just flown in on Wednesday. She is currently busy touring around the UK doing lectures and had just hosted a gardening advice session here at the expo. As we sat at the table a gentleman approached us with a bag and proceeded to pull out some spring onions he had grown and was asking Charlie for advice. "It´s quite common" she told me and you never know what will be bought along. When she was at the BBC doing Ground Force the things in jars that were regularly sent in was mind boggling - by the time she actually had possession of it, it was generally just a mass of mould!

Upstairs hall full of stands

She has just returned from South Africa where she was filming a commercial for Westland, a leading horticultural company in the UK, for a new gardening product. TV ads are often made in South Africa she told me as the terrain is very similar to that of the UK - except for the weather obviously!

Today, Friday, she will be taking part in "The Costa´s Cook Off" at 3:00pm - similar to "Ready, Steady, Cook" for those of you that remember the TV series. She will be "assisting" one of the 2 chefs, whereby they are presented with a bag of food and have to rustle something up in 20 minutes, then the audience have to vote which kitchen, Red chilli peppers or Green olives have produced the most tantalizing dish!

Art exhibition leading to the main hall

Mark Stacey, one of the UK´s most recognized valuation experts, from shows such as "Flog It" and "Bargain Hunt" is also there, ready to value and give advice on your antiques. There was certainly a queue of people waiting to see him, clutching an assortment of treasures for him to give his expert opinion on - you can catch him at stand 15 in the upstairs hall. There is also an art exhibition, with works from some very talented local artists, which the public are invited to vote for their favourite one.

Yesterday it was buzzing and I am sure that it will be the same today. The agenda for today is: 11:00am - Art Studio demo; 12:00 Noon - First Costa Cook off; 12:30pm - Cooking demo; 1:00pm - Talk on Mediterranean Gardening; 2:00pm - Charlie will be giving a gardening demo; 2:30pm -   flower arranging then the second Costa cook off at 3:00pm followed up by a cooking demo at 3:30pm - a fun activity packed day, with hundreds of products and services to see.