My First Ideal Home Show Experience with Anglian
On the 16th of March I went to the 103rd Ideal Home Show, to have a look around at the displays and to represent one of the Anglian Home Improvement employees.
I never realised the scale of the show was, especially with it having two floors aswell.
We met up with the promotion team from Anglian , who were situated near the entrance of the show, and had a quick chat with them to see how things were going, and they all gave very positive comments.
There were hundreds of different stalls all around the site selling everything from new sofas to cupcakes.
I was informed that this year’s show had a larger amount of food stalls compared to the previous years and it was such an eye opener.
The main area we wanted to look at was the Home Improvement section. I was quite surprised to see hardly any companies that were showcasing either windows, doors or conservatories. But there were several stalls which were promoting solar panels and gardening furniture which was interesting to see. I even saw a lovely Jacuzzi which my boyfriend would highly appreciate in our back garden!
As we carried on, we saw the Coronation Street No1 resident, with the Rovers Return, but decided against going in to view, due to the queue being ridiculous long and realising that there would be a long wait. I understand there are jokes around about British people being notorious for queuing, but I wasn’t planning on being one of those for the day.
And we also saw the Prince’s House as well, to which I noticed his Royal Highness came to visit the house and exhibition last Thursday!
Talking of Royalty, I also managed to find the cake bust of Prince William and Kate Middleton, that has gotten the media into a frenzy.
Being a female, once I walked into the Ideal Woman section, I was in heaven! There were so many stalls selling everything from hair extensions to scarves. A couple of times I did get slightly distracted by all of the shiny costume jewellery which I believe were my downfall, and realised that I had walked away from my manager without him realising.
I got cornered by one sales assistant who was promoting a bronzer which could also be used as a fake tan once you rubbed lotion onto your skin along with the bronzer powder.
After her small demonstration, she was trying her best to sell me the product but I had to politely smile at her and inform her that I was “working” and had to carry on taking photos of the show but would come back later.
I found I had to do this several times as the deeper I got into the show, the more sales assistants came at me. At one point there was gentleman who literally grabbed me whilst I was walking around, to show me his products of curling tongs. At this point it was starting to become a little tedious due the fact that I had naturally curly hair (which was visible) and wasn’t really needing them, but smiled and let him carry on with his sales pitch, until he finished “curling” some strands, and told him that I was “working” and still needed to go around the show and take a few more pictures, but would gladly come back to see him afterwards.
We carried on walking around for a bit longer until we came across the London College of Beauty Therapy, who were offering free manicures and massages, but unfortunately again, the queue was a little long including the wait time, so I thought it would be best to give it a miss. Plus I was with my manager and didn’t think it would be wise to leave him for a while whilst having a mini manicure session. If I was with a group of girls though, then I would have jumped at the chance.
We stopped for some lunch and a little rest and carried on for a couple more hours of looking around until we admitted that we were knackered and decided to get the train back to Norwich.
Overall I thought the experience was very good and would definitely recommend visiting.
Before my visit, I came across a couple of blogs which I thought had some wonderful insight into what I should expect from the Ideal Home Show, and would like to share with you:
I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did, and if you have not been to the Ideal Home Show already, it’s worth a trip!
Showing 5 Comments
It’s great to see the Home Show buzzing and sounds like you had a great time. Loving the pics it gives a good overview of the show!
Best Wishes
Kellie Hill
Glad you are enjoying the Ideal Home Show too! You should try and get to London COllege of Beauty Therapy’s Beauty Bar in the morning as soon as the doors open… that way you might be able to sneak a quick manicure in! Hopefully see you there soon!
Thankyou very much for your comment! Glad you liked the pictures!
Many Thanks.
I think most of the team has already popped down to the Ideal Home Show but I will let the rest know to get there early! Hope you will be coming back next year though
Thanks for the comment!
Lovely sweet blog post, has gotten me prepared for my visit this Friday – although I will be working I may try and enjoy a free mini manicure! Thanks!