Sheena Patterson of Oxford Garden Design takes a peek at the competition

For people with a competitive streak, gardening is a friendly way to show off their skills, and where better than at a flower show?

The second Blenheim Palace Flower Show opened last weekend for three days of gardening inspiration and friendly rivalry among the chrysanthemums.

There were fantastic displays in the 25,000 sq ft floral marquee, with nurseries and plant companies exhibiting a variety of stunning plants.

A great place to buy a bargain for the garden.

There was everything from practical tools to, what I thought were rather pointless, wooden ducks for sale.

But for me, the obvious first stop on such a hot day was the Arctic Cabin display. The 10m sloping walled BBQ cabin is built for all year round use, a fantastic idea for an outside room.

Its Scandinavian design cleverly maximises the space inside so it’s easily spacious enough to seat fifteen people and sleep three. These constructions are fully insulated and double glazed, and, according to the nice man we found inside the cabin, are cool in summer whilst warm in winter. I vaguely wondered whether it was etiquette to remove one’s clothes, but I couldn’t quite summon up the courage to ask. I think an Arctic Cabin would look perfect as a focal point in our garden, but my partner, Paul, showed much more interest in the wooden benches. We are currently in search of one to go outside the shed, but there is a certain amount of fuss associated with various comfort factors, such as “‘where will the beer bottle sit” and “is the back high enough to support my head while dozing?”

Paul’s interest in the dazzling display of roses was less enthusiastic until he spotted a ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk.’ Of course we had to buy one, it’s quite a vigorous climber so will cover the shed in beautiful scented pink flowers all summer.

The next stand was full of graceful Japanese Acers, a really elegant tree and great choice for a small garden. “I love Asters” piped up Paul, much to my surprise. He meant Acers, of course but I didn’t like to correct him, especially when he had begun to take an interest. I’ve noticed that most men like Acers, even if they know no other tree and Paul is no exception to this rule so we’ve got one of those for outside the shed too. Our next stop was to taste our way around the world in the fine food marquee, where companies were selling an array of delicious products and offering some irresistible free tasters. It became essential, having had a little try to buy a variety of foods that we’d never normally dream of eating. I suppose they’ll sit in the fridge like my old chutneys after Christmas, waiting for the day that we find a use for them.

It may well be not until the Blenheim 2015 Flower show, which I hope will take place.

It’s certainly not Chelsea, but nor does it pretend to be, but it was an enjoyable, well-organised event and I for one would like to return next year.

At Chelsea the queues are legendary but the longest wait at Blenheim, as far as I could tell, was the one for the ladies loo.