In spite of the chilly and sometimes wet weather it finally feels like summer in the garden. The colours are zinging (if that is a word) and previously hoed weeds are making a come back big time. The cold damp weather did not put off our loyal and hardy visitors for the last NGS open days and large amounts of home made cake and cream teas were consumed in aid of the Air Ambulance. Anns’ coffee and walnut was the outright winner again.

£771 was taken at the gate which meant that we had 192 and 3/4(!) visitors. Val donated 10% of the plant sales again, which came to £74 and the lunches and teas brought in £454:80 for Air Ambulance (sorry about the calories guys!) The soups went well on the chilly days but Anns’ lasgne was the most popular lunch and so will be repeated next year.

Thanks again to all our helpers without whom total chaos would reign in the kitchen. The cooks have all done their food hygiene courses but I haven’t yet taken a picture of Ann in her plastic shower cap and gloves to publish on this blog    - blackmailing possibilities have just suggested themselves. Special thanks again to Carole Marks, Ellie, Sheila, Cate and Andrew , Shirley and Malcolm, Adrian and his other half(sorry I didn’t catch your name), Alan, Sandra and Paul and of course Shen and Angela. Since we have started this we have developed quite a party atmosphere and although the hours of preparation are quite gruelling, the actual open days are good fun with much humour in the kitchens. I know that Ann enjoys all feedback on the garden and is happy to share the facilities especially with the local community.

I should let you know that Ann and I will be manning a stall at Shen and Angela’s Country fair on Sunday 5th september when you will again be able to enjoy her baking and some honey from our bees.

The bees swarmed last month while I was away forgetting my 60th birthday. Luckily I was able to make up a couple of hives from those that stayed behind.  But they may be a bit too small to produce much honey yet. I need to save some for some local people who suffer from bad hay fever/asthma as ingesting the local pollen seems to help them.The candelabra primulas have been flowering for a long time now and really glow against the gravel. They never seem to be beaten down by either rain or dogs who run straight through them to bark at the pair of ducks who are determined to make the natural swimming pool their home. We don’t mind sharing it with the hundreds of palmate and smooth newts but the debris the ducks leave behind is another matter!The sandy round border is at its best when the irises, paeonies and foxgloves are still poking their flowers above the soft mist of bronze fennel. In the next few days the lavender will edge it in blue and the foxtail lilies will wave their magic in its heart. Then I need to control the height of the fennel or it will swamp the new comers.The wild flower meadow is a sea of oxeye daisies, poppies and the last of the camassias. The extent of it is breathtaking but most of all I love the way it softens the edge of the natural swimming pool. The dogs can disappear completely in it now and and it is only when you wander through it you realise how many other wild flowers have now made their home there.

Ann has just returned from her first cycling holiday in France and although a bit dubious about it at first, had a wonderful time and is now singing the praises of the open road (think Wind in the Willows toad -parp parp) and the wonders of gel knickers. Could this be another photo opportunity? She has just unpacked and is already out weeding!

Sian