One of the bonuses of gardening at Highgate Cemeteries is that the lovely volunteer lady, Kim, arranges a lot of excellent exchange visits for us volunteers to go to other interesting houses, gardens and cemeteries around London. And a couple of weeks ago we were posted off to Strawberry Hill House, Horace Walpole’s 18th century …
Gardens
Uncovering a grave
‘So what are we doing this morning Adam?’ Our usual question when we arrive for a Highgate cemeteries gardening shift – and usually the answer is ivy clearance, bramble bashing, or reducing the overhanging trees so that visitors can walk underneath. But this morning we were put on ‘special duty’ – uncovering a grave. We …
Help save the London Steam Museum
Have you ever been to the London Water and Steam Museum? It is just this side of Kew Bridge – and you can’t miss that mighty tower. Even if you have zero interest in steam engines you cannot but be charmed by its massive, polished and purring engines – the 90 Inch and the 100 …
The garden in July
Do you remember those ridiculous six foot high alliums whose stalks were reaching for the sky? Well, finally – two months later – they are starting to flower. First by shedding their pointed hats… ..and then bursting (slightly half heartedly) into bloom. Will all those tight little buds open out or is that the way …
Woodbridge, a cuckoo – and Wenhaston Grange
I have just spent the weekend at the Aldeburgh Festival but rather than staying in Aldeburgh we took an Air BnB in Woodbridge, down the coast on the River Deben – and just up the road from Sutton Hoo, the most important and stunning Anglo Saxon site in the UK. Woodbridge also home to a …
Light into Life: Marc Quinn at Kew
The weather forecast promised rain at 11am on Bank Holiday Monday and then for the rest of the day. So, I thought, if I get to Kew as the gates open at 10am, not only will I miss the rain but the bank holiday crowds. Great theory – and I did miss the crowds, but …