Peter's Open Garden, 2014.

Hello All, Hilda here, I am going to have an attempt at the blog, to try to see how this dreaded technical hitch is behaving. Fingers crossed.

The weather forecast on the day of the garden opening was terrible, with heavy rain and winds. The morning went true to the prediction, but come 1pm, when it was due to open, as if on cue, the sun shone. People started coming in gradually and all commented favourably on it. This is part of what they saw as they entered the front gate:

The front garden.

Down the side entrance they went, where Richard was waiting to take their entrance money. They spread out in the garden then eventually found their way, either to me, as I was selling the plants, or to the kitchen where Kathy, Susie and Jeannette were waiting to sell them hot drinks and delicious home made cakes.

An overview of the garden.

 

 

Later on, the skies darkened again and the heavens opened! people ran for shelter into the greenhouse & kitchen. Poor Betty & Cynthia decided to stay in their chairs outside with their macs and umbrellas. Most people thought they were enjoying the shower, but the truth of the matter was, they couldn't get out of their low garden chairs while balancing their tea and cakes, so they decided to stick it out. However, the shower soon stopped and the sun shone again, their damp clothes soon were drying, you could see the colour of Cynthia's trousers changing as they did so.

More visitors arrived when the sun continued to shine, the garden was a hive of activity, my plant stall was busy & the kitchen was doing a roaring trade.

This gorgeous cake was soon eaten up!

 Here are some of my favourite flowers in the garden:

Massive trailing Begonia.

Close up of the flower.

Plants for sale.

It was a very successful day, both in terms of visitors and money raised for the charity. There were nearly 100 people (95 to be exact), past Richard, and the day raised £509 all together. In fact, we did much better than Sussex Prairie Gardens, whom we visited in September. They had their open garden on the same day. They normally have several thousand visitors for their open garden, but, because of the weather, only had about 11!