We joined four of our neighbours and opened our garden to the public last Sunday, in aid of Heart Link, a local charity that supports the heart unit at Leicester’s Glenfield General Hospital. I think that the neighbour who organises the event either had treatment there a few years ago, or has a relative who was treated there.
Since we had the annual family “birthday bash” the previous weekend (and we were the only participants in the event that are still working full time) I took Friday off for garden tidying purposes. It took two long days to reach what I felt was an “adequate” standard. We have recently purchased a jet-wash, which made a wonderful job of the patio, but I learned not to jet-wash any path with mud between the stones. After trying to clean the small crazy-paved path that runs behind the plants at the side of our garden I was covered from head to toe in mud, as were all the surrounding plants, which were still specked with brown during the open day. Oh well, it was a learning experience.
As well as being open for “inspection” each garden has a stall or similar to raise extra funds – plant sales, bric-a-brac, raffle, ploughman’s lunches, cream teas, and in our case gift cards. Chantal produced professional-looking gift cards from photos taken in and around our garden, suitably presented with an envelope and cellophane packaging, and sold 89 of them, all profits going to Heart Link. We weren’t sure what would sell, and so we printed four of each of about a dozen designs. We found that birds, particularly a robin, cows on Croft Hill (I took that one!) and a photo of our cat Muffin, with her big blue eyes, outsold all of the flower images, apart from poppies, and Chantal was kept busy printing and guillotining to keep pace with demand.
I think Chantal must have taken the photo of her card display above (with Andree and her friend, who spent most of the day with us and our neighbours) before the gardens opened for the day, since the garden was busy with visitors from shortly after opening at 10.000am, until just before closing at 6pm. After two days of intensive gardening I told Chas that the actual open day would be a relaxed affair, just sitting in the sunshine watching folk wonder around the garden, but I had forgotten how much people like to chat. It took me two hours to eat the ploughmans lunch that I brought back to our garden from three doors away. And of course Chantal was busy keeping the greetings card display stocked up.
The event raised almost £2000, no doubt most from lunches and cream teas, and we must have had several hundred people visiting. For much of the day cars were parked in all directions along the Lane, the line of parked cars stretching out of site towards Thurlaston. It wasn’t until the end of the day, just before closing, that Chantal was able to go and visit some of our neighbours’ gardens. She returned to recommend that I pop up the road to see Baz and Sue’s new fishpond. Well, Baz offered me a glass of wine while Sue showed me around the garden, and then Mike from the top of the Lane arrived and we had another glass of wine, and then all four of us had a glass of wine while drawing the raffle, before I wandered contentedly back down the Lane. It was perhaps just as well that, after a warm and sunny day, the heavens opened just after I got home, and we had a torrential downpour, forcing me to have a little sit down while waiting for the rain to stop before I walked the dogs.
(My greeting card contribution – cows on Croft Hill)
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
