GREEN-FINGERED villagers were treated to a blooming marvellous experience when BBC Radio 4 brought Gardeners’ Question Time to East Meon.

There was standing room only when East Meon Garden Club (EMGC) welcomed the fabulous panel of Chris Beardshaw, Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood and soon-to-retire chairman Eric Robson to the village hall.

The panel was full of experience and knowledge with Chris being the holder of 35 prestigious design awards, including 12 RHS Golf Medals. Bob is one of Britain’s leading organic gardeners while local lady and trained botanist Pippa has been a regular panelist since 1994 and was gardening consultant for ITV series Rosemary and Thyme.

Tickets for the event - which attracted visitors from Bordon, Privett, Clanfield and around the Meon Valley - sold out within ten days of going on sale.

But it wasn’t an easy process with EMGC being notified of the show’s intention to visit the village just six weeks beforehand.

The club had to complete a ten-page application form while historian Michael Blakstad wrote a remarkable piece about the village’s history and met the show’s producer, Dan Cocker, at Leydene House on the afternoon of the event itself.

The EMGC committee put in a lot of hard work to transform the venue with flowers donated and arranged by West End Flower Farm of Froyle and Amanda Wyatt, respectively.

There was also a real community effort with the village hall committee and numerous husbands, wives and partners helping out with logistics.

The East Meon broadcast can be heard on BBC Radio 4 this Friday (March 29) and again on April 5.