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Spring Art & Garden Fair “Business & Trader” Information and Booking Portal (for trader information only)
20th December - 12th April £10.00 - £550.00
This booking portal is specifically for outdoor exhibitors. Art exhibitors please click here for the Art Showcase booking portal.
The 2025 Isle of Wight Spring Art & Garden Fair makes a triumphant return back to its normal Easter time slot and will take place this year on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th April (Good Friday and Easter Saturday) and will be open for visitors between 10am and 5pm daily.
The Fair has become one of the busiest early season events on the Island and is a great opportunity for a huge range of quality Isle of Wight businesses to promote and sell their products and produce.
With an estimated 4500 visitors in 2024, the Fair continues to grow in popularity and with enhanced support from Red Funnel Ferries in 2025, more footfall from the mainland via the Red Jet is certainly on the cards.
The Fair of course has a specific focus on art and gardening and businesses who trade in to these sectors are particularly encouraged to take part. If you have an Island or mainland business selling anything relating to plants, gardening and the great outdoors, this is the event you have been waiting for! If you are an artist producing quality work good enough for an exhibition, then step forward…we have an art showcase inside Northwood House that will be a super opportunity to promote and sell your work.
Outside, the Isle of Wight Spring Fair is perfect for everyone from plant nurseries and growers, landscaping products and service providers, and garden machinery dealerships, to furniture, clothing and other lifestyle businesses. What better way to start the new season than a show focusing on everything to do with the Island’s favourite pastime? It’s a great chance to activate promotions and show off a range of all your latest plants and products to a wide audience looking to not only see, but buy! Island exhibitors will be joined by a range of horticultural based businesses from the mainland including a selection of RHS medal-winning plant nurseries.
Of course, it’s not just about gardening and high quality art. Producers and retailers of other quality items are welcome to attend over the weekend, including makers of craft, jewellery and local food (for take-home consumption, though sampling is of course permitted!) with options to bring your own gazebo or book an all weather marquee.
Charities and local organisations and businesses who want to promote themselves are also welcome to attend. The Fair also has a green business & eco section, where businesses selling environmentally friendly products and services are welcome to attend, including retailers of green energy systems and electric vehicles. It’s an eclectic mix, with the emphasis always on quality, making it very popular with visitors.
The two-day fair will be the first prime selling opportunity of the year. It will be one of the first main ‘Get Outdoors’ weekend of the season, when customers are at their most eager to revamp their gardens and buy new items for the upcoming season.
The event will also feature a new gardening and plants-related talks tent with experts from the RHS in attendance. Businesses and individuals are welcome to put themselves forward if they would like to sponsor a talk or even do one themselves on an interesting subject matter.
The Fair is family friendly and free to enter for children 15 years old or younger. There will be some free kids craft activities as well as some Easter-related fun to keep everyone occupied. The tea ten and lawn bar will be open, with some exciting new catering options in conjunction with the Heron restaurant in Cowes & Ryde.
The event will be staged as ever on the lawns and within the grounds of Northwood House and Park, now one of the Island’s leading event venues. The venue is managed by Northwood House Charitable Trust, with proceeds from the event going to the charity. This will help to continue the ongoing restoration of this iconic Island building for future generations of Islanders to enjoy.
Exhibitors are now welcome to book…
There’s lots to look forward to and exhibitors are now invited to take either an outdoor pitch for the event (providing their own shelters and gazebos), or in one of several all-weather marquees (provided by us, no need to provide your own gazebo).
All weather marquees maybe located on the lawns or in the park, but no market-stall style marquees will be available this year.
In 2025 there are also options to hire your own individual small or medium sized frame marquee from us which is exclusive for you to use at the fair which will be located on the house lawns.
Please note artists who want to be part of the Art Showcase inside the venue should use the art booking portal (Click here), although of course artists are welcome to have a pitch outside or in a marquee too and should use this portal if that’s the preference. Be aware though that night times in spring can be damp and chilly and leaving art outside overnight in a marquee or gazebo really isn’t very advisable.
Please note pitches are only available for the entire two days. Bookings for single days only aren’t available, sorry.
Assume widest measurement is your selling frontage, although bigger pitches maybe open on more than one side.
Even though we prefer exhibitors not to have their vehicles parked on their outside pitches, if it is essential for storage or trading then exhibitors can do if they wish. But their pitch must be larger enough to do this, and therefore no smaller than a 6m x 6m “Outside Square Pitch”. Please measure your vehicle to make sure you book a big enough pitch and still have enough room for retail items and a gazebo. You will not be able to encroach beyond your marked pitch boundary and this is strictly enforced.
Exhibitor vehicles will be parked nearby in the park for access if required.
Pitches rental fees are VAT exempt under our Charity status and thus exclude any VAT that can be reclaimed by VAT registered businesses.
Each pitch booking comes with 2 exhibitor wristbands included. Others available at standard admission rates.
Please use the booking section at the bottom of the page to complete your application and payment after reading the information below:
Island exhibitor information for outside & marquee pitches / terms and conditions 2025 (sorry the boring bit!)
(Note: we advise you to please copy and save this information digitally for your records)
By booking a pitch, exhibitors agree to read, understand and abide by the terms and conditions stated below:
Pitch fees:
1. Your pitch fees cover both days of the fair (Friday 18th and Saturday 19th April 2025) and include two standard exhibitor wristbands, with others available at cost on request (£5 each).
2.Exhibitors must agree to guarantee attendance on both days of the event between the hours of 10am and 5pm. We are unable to take bookings for single event days only.
3. We will send you a confirmation of your booking and a receipt of your payment once it has been received in our bank. This may take up to a week after payment has been received.
What are you selling?/Our right to cancel
4: We require you to confirm the nature of your business and what you will be selling at the Fair in the booking form. We reserve the right to cancel the booking and refund any fee if we don’t believe the nature or quality of what you are vending fits in with our event. Our decision is final. If you are in doubt, you should contact Chris or Darren at Northwood House before booking on 01983 293642 or email chris.newnham@northwoodhouse.org
5. While we fully support and welcome all vendors of locally-made produce, all food and drink must be packaged for take-home
consumption only. Hot or chilled food and drink items intended for consumption on site are strictly prohibited unless by separate arrangement (see 6 below), as per the conditions of our licence as an event venue. This is non-negotiable, and as such we reserve the right to eject immediately without prior warning or refund any exhibitor in direct breach of this condition.
6. Exhibitors selling packaged non-ambient produce, food or drink for take home consumption must meet relevant standards of Health & Hygiene. You must be registered with the Isle of Wight Council as a food business and have an appropriate PL insurance, documentation and practices in place for HACCP purposes while vending at the Fair. Do not book if you cannot meet and provide evidence of these requirements to us upon request or to an official from the Isle of Wight Council.
7. Food vending concessions aren’t currently available to book for this event, but interested concessionaires can email chris.newnham@northwoodhouse.org to be added to a waiting list.
Cancellation:
8. If an outside exhibitor has to cancel their booking, the following refund procedure will apply for 2025:
i) Before 5pm on Friday 14th March, a full refund will be issued.
ii) After 5pm (close of business) on Friday 14th March but before 5pm on Friday 11th April, a 50% refund will be issued.
iii) Any cancellations after 5pm on Friday 11th April will receive no refund as the show plan will have been completed and submitted for print and marketing (sorry)
9 . In the unlikely event that the Fair is cancelled by us before 10am on Friday 18th April, all payments will be returned in full. If the event is cancelled due to severe weather or reasons of force majeure after this time, unfortunately no refunds can be made to exhibitors. In the event of a late cancellation we cannot accept any liability for any items or produced or prepared specifically to retail at the Fair, sorry.
Insurances:
10. All exhibitors MUST hold Public Liability Insurance with an appropriate level of cover. Please email a copy of your current certificate to chris.newnham@northwoodhouse.org. If the current policy expires before the date of the Fair, a copy of the new certificate will be required before Event Management allow access to the Fair site in May.
11. Exhibitors are responsible for ensuring their belongings are fully insured. Northwood House Charitable Trust Co. Ltd. will
not be held responsible in the unlikely event of loss, theft or any damages that may be incurred during the event or if items have been left on the show site overnight.
Security:
12. Security personnel will patrol the exterior gardens and parkland on the evening and night of Thursday 17th and Friday 18th April. However, due to the large size of the site, we cannot guarantee a direct line of sight on your plot at all times. Therefore, all items are left on site at the exhibitor’s risk. If in any doubt, you should remove items from your pitch during closed event periods, although you can leave gazebos in place.
Setting up/down & replenishment:
13. Exhibitors will be able to set up/down and replenish their plots at the following times:
- 11am- 7.30pm on Thursday 17th April
- 7.30am-9.30am & 5.15pm-6.30pm on Friday 18th April
- 8.30am-9.30am & from 5pm-6.30pm (take down) on Saturday 19th April
14. Unless prior arrangement has been made with Event Management, exhibitors must pack down their displays and vacate the premises by 6.30pm once the fair is finished on the evening of Saturday 19th April. We are unable to store items in the House.
15. Although a general site plan may be available in the several weeks leading up to the Fair, only upon your arrival at Northwood House & Park will you be shown your designated plot. Unless agreed by prior arrangement with Event Management to cater for specific needs (space for large sculptures, for example), Event Management make no guarantees about plot locations and these are allotted at our discretion based on customer flow and variation of exhibitor.
16. We’ll send out a Spring Fair information update, to all exhibitors the week beginning Monday 7th April. Mainland exhibitors will be contacted in advance to discuss travel arrangements.
17. Exhibitors will receive one car parking permit for use on the event field for parking over the weekend and for setting up and down periods. You must display this on your dashboard at all times.
Gazebos, tables and electricity:
18. Exhibitors with outdoor plots will need to bring their own gazebos for shelter. However they must fit within the dimensions of their plot and not encroach on their neighbour’s allotted space. Please consider the size of your gazebo when choosing the size of your plot.
19. Exhibitors with all-weather marquee pitches should not bring gazebos and will set up inside our marquee without the need for additional shelter. Be aware though that overnight damp and cold can be an issue in the early spring so delicate items should not be left overnight or should be covered appropriately.
20. Gazebos and shelters should be erected in accordance with manufactures guidance and should be secured appropriately with weights and anchors in case of windy weather. We only recommend commercial grade gazebos should be used at outdoor public events where ever possible.
21. Trestle tables are excluded in your pitch fee although we can hire 1.8m trestles for use over the weekend. These must be booked in advance only.
22. Access to electricity is not included, but can be arranged if booked in advance. A £25 fee is applied for providing a pitch with 1 x 13amp power socket and electricity for the weekend. Please book with you pitch below.
23. Generators of any type are not permitted on site unless by prior arrangement.
Waste/Damage/Environment:
24. Exhibitors are responsible for removing all rubbish and waste from their plots at the end of each day.
25. Exhibitors must take reasonable care not to cause damage to any part of the Fair site at any time. Northwood House is
a Grade II* listed building and the use of any adhesives (tapes, Blu-Tac, drawing pins, etc) or fixings on interior and exterior walls is
strictly prohibited.
26.Exhibitors should not remove turf from outside pitches or make any damage to grass. Event Management reserve the right to forward on costs for repairs/reinstatement, accordingly. In the case of wet weather, exhibitors should not drive on the grass unless by prior permission of event management.
27. In order to reduce not only our carbon footprint but our costs, we reserve the right to communicate our
correspondences electronically, so please ensure you provide us with an email address, taking due care to write it
accurately in the booking section. We also encourage exhibitors to provide eco-friendly packaging and carry-bags for customer purchases where ever possible.
Media/advertising:
28. Northwood House Charitable Trust Co. Ltd. reserves the right to use your name/business name and images of your
exhibit in promotional materials, including but not limited to social media posts (Facebook and Instagram), website
and newsletter content, posters and banners.
29. We reserve the right to pass on your email contact details to our event media partners, who may contact you directly to
feature your business via their chosen platform (digital or print). Any such features are understood to be by prior
mutual arrangement between the exhibitor and said media. Northwood House Charitable Trust Co. Ltd. accepts no
responsibility for any and all content published by a third party.
GDPR:
30. Information we collect about you regarding this event is managed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations. Please click here for our policy.
Who we are: Northwood House Charitable Trust Co. Ltd
31. Northwood House Charitable Trust Co. Ltd is the sole trustee of Northwood House Charitable Trust. We are the charity that was set up in 2010 to take over the ownership of Northwood House & Park from the Isle of Wight Council and have responsibility for the restoration and maintenance of the Northwood House Estate as well as provide recreational benefit for the community around us. Surpluses generated form this event go to meet our charitable objectives. By booking with us you are contributing to our efforts, so thank you for your support.
You now have all the information you need to proceed with a booking.
ARTISTS FOR ART SHOWCASE EVENT INSIDE NORTHWOOD HOUSE PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE CORRECT BOOKING PORTAL
