The London Dungeon has revealed its very own unofficial entry into the Chelsea Flower Show – a terrifying garden scene, with political party leaders in garden gnome form…g-nope thanks!
Nestled within the new sinister shrubbery at the London Dungeon entrance, situated directly opposite the hallowed halls of Westminster, the ‘Gnopes Garden’ will force visitors to come face to face with the attraction’s ghastly guests in gnome form; our political parties’ leaders… Rishi Sunak for the Conservatives, Sir Keir Starmer for Labour, Ed Davey for the Liberal Democrats, Richard Tice for Reform UK and Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay for the Green Party.
The inclusion of these pint-sized politicians is bound to raise a few eyebrows at the long-running show as gnomes have long been banned from official Chelsea Flower Show entries after judges in 1990 feared the ornaments were ‘tacky’.
The spine-chilling garden has been created in the run up to the ever-impending election, and like all the twisted tales in the Southbank attraction was inspired by Victorian history.
Garden gnomes were popularised by Victorians in the 18th century for use in the gardens of people who couldn’t afford to take part in the unusual trend amongst the wealthy of the time – hiring old men to live as ‘ornamental hermits’ at the bottoms of their estates for years on end.
Guests at the London Dungeon needn’t worry about seeing the terrifying ‘Gnopes Garden’ at the attraction for too long as the display is only available for a limited time from 22nd – 25th May.
A London Dungeon spokesperson said: “A Dungeon entry to the Chelsea Flower Show must be scary (even when unofficial) so we took inspiration from the scariest thing we could think of… the current state of British politics. Being the experts in London’s bleakest past and based just across the river from Westminster, we felt inspired to turn today’s dark reality into art by immortalising our collective national feeling of dread in garden gnome form.”
Those brave enough to pass through the political garden and enter the depths of the London Dungeon, situated on the capital’s South Bank, will uncover unsettling tales of London’s darkest past and come face-to-face with spine-chilling historic characters including Jack the Ripper, Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett herself.
Book tickets online in advance at www.thedungeons.com/london to save.
