Ben Fogle's country travels: inspired by the Chelsea Flower Show I joined thousands of green-fingered fans to celebrate the centenary of the Chelsea Flower Show in London last week. It really is a feast for the eyes. I have already admitted to the slow creep of "gardenitis" into my life and Chelsea was the perfect place for inspiration. Marina and I were there to support our friend Marie-Louise Agius who had designed her own garden for the Olympic East Village. It was her first Chelsea garden and I found that my nerves rattled vicariously as we walked around. It's extraordinary how this tiny corner of the city is transformed. What non-Londoners fail to see is the flowery rash that spreads way beyond the borders of the show. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is transformed into a giant garden as shops, cafés and restaurants try to outdo each other with their own floral displays. It's enough to make even a hardened cynic smile to walk among the flowers in an otherwise grey landscape. I visited the show with my friend Dan Snow, the historian, who has also been caught by the floral bug. We walked around together marvelling at the astonishing creations. I was surprised to see so many designers abandoning the formal, groomed garden for the wilder, unkempt, natural look that I have always favoured. I was also surprised to see so much cow parsley. What was once considered a weed has taken Chelsea by storm, and I spotted it in dozens of the gardens. It is always exciting to see how some of the wilder corners of the world represent themselves through their flora, from the award-winning Australian garden to the riotous colours of Thailand. Prince Harry's Sentebale Garden may have looked like it had a giant dog bed in the centre of it, but it also brought a real touch of Lesotho to London. Marie-Louise took a gold for her beautiful garden. I felt like I had won a gold myself, and bought myself a smart new gardening smock as a reward. The only problem with the Chelsea Flower Show is that my own garden now feels like such a let-down by comparison. My greens simply aren't quite as green, my stalks are all a little wilted and my leaves a little curled. Suddenly I'm not so smug. Marie-Louise has already been invited around for "tea" next week.