Tickets go on sale for Winchester Cathedral's annual Flower Festival

Illumination: A Festival of Flowers runs from September 5-9, with a stunning array of flower arrangements inspired by the Winchester Bible, the largest and finest surviving 12th-century English bible.

This year’s festival follows two spectacular flower festivals in recent years, and the cathedral will once again be transformed by striking and fragrant displays.

Visitors will be invited to immerse themselves in a riot of colour and admire a variety arrangements evoking the Bible’s exquisite illuminated initials and elaborate decorative schemes coloured with gold and lapis lazuli.

The festival will also offer visitors the opportunity to find out more about theBible, before all four volumes of this medieval masterpiece go on display in the cathedral’s new multi-million pound exhibition Kings and Scribes from winter 2018.

Creative director Angela Turner, returns to the festival having designed the festival in 2013. She is a regular exhibitor at the Chelsea Flower Show and has won several Royal Horticultural Society gold medals. Her flair and understanding of the cathedral will result in a spectacular event. Amongst others, most of the arrangers themselves will come from across the region’s NAFAS (National Association of Flower Arranging Societies).

Tickets £7 - £12 with a variety of concessions available (including groups of 15+) can be booked via Winchester Cathedral Box Office on 01962 857 275 and www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk.

Special afternoon tea packages are also available from £14 per person, along with afternoon tea and flower arranging demonstration packages from £20 per person. Advanced booking is recommended for afternoon tea as spaces are limited.