little green fingers

Pyjama days, high heels and school gardens

Image source: NGS/Palatine Primary School

It's day three of the school holidays and today we're having a pyjama day. For those unfamiliar with this concept, it is a day when we don't bother getting out of our pyjamas (creative nomenclature is not our speciality).  This looks quite sweet when you are a kid, but gives me the appearance of being in the midst of a breakdown. Age is cruel.

It also shows what a difference a week makes.  Last Wednesday at this time I was skipping up to London in a vintage tea dress and heels so high I couldn't walk pain-free for the next three days (in retrospect, the skipping was probably a mistake). The occasion was the launch of the National Garden Scheme.

To any of you unfamiliar with the NGS it was begun 85 years ago by nice ladies in puffed sleeves and flowing skirts who thought it would be a jolly good wheeze to open private gardens to the public and raise money for charity. Today it generates about £2.5 million a year for a range of charities and has over 3700 gardens in its famous Yellow Book (which will also be available as an App - another jolly good wheeze).  This proves something I have always known - never underestimate a woman with puffed sleeves.

However, the NGS has always had a certain 'image' in my book - it is the sort of image that conjures up reading glasses, driving shoes and a firm belief that no good music was composed after 1950.  But the times they are a-changin (you see, right there, is a reason to dump the 1950 rule for a start).  The organisation itself seems keen to get younger gardeners visiting.  Most let children in for free (having said that, I'm not, but that's partly because we are specifically putting on lots of entertainment aimed at kids so, quite frankly, 50p is an absolute bargain!)

Also, there are a number of schools opening their gardens.  I love this idea.  Not only will the children involved have an enormous sense of pride to have paying visitors admiring their plot, but it will be a great place for families to visit and, hopefully, get inspired.

If you are tempted to get out and about garden visiting this year, here are a few of the school gardens opening their gates:

Brighstone Primary School (Isle of Wight) - part of a group opening on Sunday 24th June

Cefn Cribwr Primary School (Glamorgan) - part of a group opening on Sunday 10th June

Cheddington Combined School (Bucks) - part of a group opening on Sunday 24th June

Hayton C of E Primary School (Cumbria) - part of a group opening on Sunday 15th July

Heronsbridge School (Bridgend, Glamorgan) - opening Sunday 24th June

Overthorpe J, I & N School (Thornhill, Dewsbury, Yorks) - opening Sunday 15th July

Palatine School Gardens (Worthing, Sussex) - opening Sunday 1st July

Rhydypenau Primary School (Glamorgan) - part of a group opening Sundays 13 May and 15 July

St John RC Primary School (Beverley, Yorks) - opening Saturday 7th July

And, best of all, they will all be serving cake.  Because an NGS garden opening is nothing without the cake.

French gardens, giant watering cans and pine cone moustaches

 

Sometimes I worry, we English don't really like children... or at least we English gardeners. I have seen "kids" mentioned in lists of "common garden pests", most places I visit spend half their budget on "Keep off the Grass" signs and public gardens appear to think a children's play area, usually secreted somewhere between the car park and toilets, is enough to placate the family audience.

To be fair, there are some notable exceptions. Easton Walled Gardens, for example, goes out of its way to encourage the rampaging of children across the grounds and some places, such as Hampton Court in Herefordshire or the Lost Gardens of Heligan, could almost have been created just to delight the smaller visitors.

I wondered if this was a worldwide phenomenon but at a Loire Valley gardens event a couple of weeks ago, I was struck by how often the owners referred to families and children in their talks and by the number of images of children I saw in their slides.

And then there was le Rivau...

This was not a garden I'd heard of before but it is only 20 minutes from the world-famous Villandry and, if you are every travelling there with kids in tow, it would be the perfect place to combine horticulture and junior entertainment.

There are 14 gardens, the names of which alone would be enough to draw in most young children: the Rapunzel Garden, the Enchanted Forest, Tom Thumb's Garden, the Perfumed Path, the Fairies' Border; the Love Potion Garden. And all these are set against the backdrop of a chateau which wouldn't look out of place in the opening of a Disney movie.

In addition, the garden also functions as an outdoor sculpture park with intriguing creations including giant watering cans, pierced trees and even five pairs of enormous legs running through woods. 

But all this is not a theme park.  It's a real garden with plenty of plants and planting to interest the keenest of gardeners, it's just that they haven't forgotten that children are allowed to be excited too.

Perhaps we need to adopt a similar attitude here?

Blimey - look at me, getting all serious! Don't worry, it won't happen again.

So, to lighten the mood, here is my latest Movember moustache (any donations gratefully received...) - Day 4: The Miniature Pine Cone Moustache. Very good for rocking the Brokeback Mountain look and mighty fine paired with matching earings.

Garden visit: Knebworth House

Despite living only half an hour a way, my knowledge of Knebworth is slightly limited. In fact, it could be summed up as "is that where they have loud shouty bands outside?" (I am, as you can see, a loss to the music journalism profession).

In fact, there are 25 acres of garden, but as a parent you may never get to see them. This is down to a chronic lack of planning in the site layout. Picture this: you have driven in the car for some way, then sat in a queue to enter the grounds, the children are bored and restive when suddenly, on your right, emerges a huge adventure playground. Now imagine how easy it is persuade everyone that what they really want to do is keep driving until you reach some gardens. You see the problem?

I would recommend either blindfolds or a well timed cry of "Was that a pack of giant jelly babies I just saw running through the trees on your left?". As it was, I had to rely on food-related bribery and a promise of returning to 'Fort Knebworth' later on (it was a slow day on the creativity front when they named that one).

The gardens themselves are not the most spectacular and seem a little disjointed but there was still enough to keep the kids occupied for at least an hour or two.

Best bits for kids

Dino trail - 72 life sized dinosaurs are lurking in the woods. This was fascinating for the children but a little disturbing for their mother who still remembered hiding behind her cinema seat during Jurassic Park. However, there's nothing so effective as a blousy backdrop of Rhododendrons to calm the nerves.

Maze - A cliche, yes, but still popular. It was quite a low hedge and relatively uncomplicated so probably best for smaller children.

Carvings - Never have I seen so many weird carvings in one place. Fairy castles, totem poles, crocodiles, warriors - there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to their creation or placement but the children loved them.  I was just surprised there was no spotter's sheet for the kids to mark off their finds.

Mound - Don't underestimate the power of a mound - especially to people living so close to the fens. We are easily pleased...

Pollarded Lime Alleys - These apparently exuded a call only audible to children under 8 - "That's right, come to us and run away from that woman they call mother And, yes, screaming too. Screaming would be good".

But just remember, when questioned about their day afterwards, the children will say only this - "We went to Knebworth Fort and ate ice creams".

NGS openings and the dangers of to-do lists

 

I did something a little rash last week. I tried to cross something off my 'to-do list'.

You see, having wondered for a year or two whether to apply to open for the National Gardens Scheme, on Thursday I finally did something about it. As with all such important decisions, I didn't really give it much thought, just dropped an email.

"There," I thought.  "I've done my bit. They'll probably take an age to reply" and I put a line through "NGS?" on my to-do list with the smug flourish.

The call came about two hours later. The local organiser was in the area the next day and wondered if he could pop by.

So I had 24 hours. Well, that's a lie.  If you take into account the need to sleep, write, do school runs, feed and bathe children and generally run around after them, I actually had about three hours. And of course, the garden which had looked great in my mind a short while before, was perhaps a little less maintained than I thought.

My mother very helpfully confirmed this. "You might want to take out those dandelions that are seeding all over the place" was her sage advice. I also removed the thistles (one of which had actually reached thigh height).

But against the odds we were ready, and even more surprisingly, the verdict was positive. I had been stealing myself for rejection - not least because this is very much a family garden, catering for children, and I wasn't sure how interesting that would be to the average NGS visitor.

So we're going to open, probably next May and maybe in half term to encourage more children and families to come. This lengthy wait is good as it gives me a year to perfect my baking skills (quality of cake it appears, is at least as imporant as the planting) and several months to listen to wiser and more experienced gardeners whose general feedback has been "Are you mad?".

In the meantime I am also rewriting my to-do list without 'Run marathon?' on it.  It's safer that way.

Open gardens, spring equinox and spotters' sheets

   
I have opened my garden this week.

Before you get the wrong idea, I should clarify that this was not part of the NGS Yellow Book scheme (I fear I wouldn't make that cut) and there was a distinct lack of tea and cakes on offer.  Instead, I have had the local pre-schoolers over for a 'Signs of Spring' walk.

Apparently the visits are going quite well.  I can't be more definite about that as I didn't go out there myself.  I know these are only two, three and four-year-olds but frankly the under-5s are the harshest critics you will ever find and I wasn't sure I could take their comments.

Still I did show willing.  Not only did I hold my tongue on the fact that spring is still five days away (I am an equinox pedant and proud of it), but I even knocked up some Signs of Spring Spotters' Sheets.  I also managed to blanche only slightly when the pre-school leader showed me the squares of card adorned with double sided sticky tape.

"And those are for...?"

"Collecting signs of spring."

"From my garden?"

"Um...well...yes."

And then, added, as she saw the expression on my face.  "But they won't be very big signs of spring."

If you want to have a go yourself, I've attached the spotting sheet below.  But please don't come to my garden as I'm not sure there will be anything left to spot.

Download Signs of spring – spotting sheet

Garden visit: Easton Walled Gardens

I could never be a contestant on The Apprentice.  This is partly because I still retain a semblance of humanity and could never refer to myself as 'Dawn Isaac - The Brand' but mostly because I'm very, very bad at selling. Yet last week, I must have been on fire because, somehow, I persuaded the entire family that what they really wanted to do on Saturday afternoon was "go to a garden and look at snowdrops". 

Admittedly, I had to assure them we'd be back in time for both the Rugby and Total Wipeout (remarkably similar visual spectacles by the way), but incredibly they went for it.  It was almost on a par with Chris selling that woman an evening dress made of second hand ties.

The snowdrops in question were at Easton Walled Gardens, a few miles north of Stamford and only about five minutes off the A1.  The estate has been in the Cholmeley family since 1592, and yet, in many ways this is a very young garden.  The original hall was requisitioned for the Royal Artillery in the Second World War, which must be a akin to giving the family china to an overexcited three year old.  As a result, the place had to be pulled down in 1951 and a decade or so later, the gardens too were left to their own devices.

This neglect was halted a decade ago when Ursula Cholmoney took on the reinstatement and redevelopment of the gardens and what we visited on Saturday is her vision and dedication combined with the hard work of her small team of gardeners.

The Best Bits for Kids...

Freedom

I'm not sure I've ever seen a website that declares: "We are not precious about the gardens and like children to enjoy themselves" but I wish there were more. In essence, this is the best part of all.  You can bring your children to run around, explore the gardens and let off steam without worry.  I can vouch for the authenticity of this statement as we bumped into Ursula as we were walking through the woodland pathways and she even said I shouldn't worry if the children picked a few flowers (I chose not to repeat this to the boys...).

The Terraces

For the adults, there is a fine set of stone steps, for the children there are terraces of grass which, apparently, must be climbed and run down again and again, preferably screaming 'loooook aaaat meeeee'.

Turf Maze

Well more of a positive labyrinth really (pedantic, moi?) and a simple construct, but always good for younger children, plus, when viewed from above, a dead ringer for Sideshow Bob (according to Reuben anyway),

Enormous Hedge with Inviting Archway

Watch as whole children are consumed.

Yew Tunnel

Because it's dark (apparently too dark for my camera to function properly) and offers plenty of trunks to hide behind

A swing...

...big enough for three. Sort of.

Bird Viewing Areas...

...for the young twitchers

Huge slices of cake...

...for everyone

There are lots of other areas which will be at their best later in the year, so we plan to return a few times over the coming months.  Entry costs £5.75 (£5.50 for snowdrop weeks) per adult and £1.50 per child but we decided it was worth paying around £30 for a family membership meaning we can visit as many times as we like this year.

The gardens are open from March to October, 11am-4pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, and for Sundays in November plus it's open every day for snowdrops from February 12th until this Sunday (20th).

And the kids verdict?  Oscar (5), unprompted, said "I really liked that nice garden" but then he can be a bit of a creep at times...  Ava (7), who is much less likely to sugar the pill, declared "I had a fun time today... which is good because I thought it was going to be really dull."

Maybe my sales pitch needs some work after all.

Estate agents, Dora the Explorer and fallen walnut trees

 

I wouldn't make a very good estate agent.  It's not that I don't know the lingo.  After half a dozen series of Location, Location, Location and Property Ladder, I reckon I've got that covered.  However, there's no escaping the fact I have a slightly strange way of assessing properties.

Take New Year for example.  We were lucky enough to be invited to our friends' chateau in France where we had such a spectacularly good time it was actually worth the 28 hours travelling in a car with three young children (on that subject, I can heartily recommend portable DVD players and a huge stack of Dora the Explorer episodes - not only will it keep them quiet, they may also learn a new language).

One day I took my now Spanish-speaking son for a walk in their garden.  In estate agent terms I should have returned waxing lyrical about their architect-designed pool house, impressive courtyard or horses with paddock, but no, I stumble back into the kitchen and say "Ohhh, I love your fallen tree".

So, OK, it might not be listed in the house's particulars, but the wind blown walnut tree, fashioned into a children's climbing area was a gorgeous sight - and so much more appealing than standard play equipment.  I was told that the plan is to add a new feature each year - very much as President Mitterrand did for Paris.  So far there is a hammock, steps, platform and adjoining climbing log.  If I'm honest I'm not sure they were playing at the top of their game when they added the cast-off plastic pool ladder, but I'm sure some of 'Les Grands Projets" were less than successful too.

Best of all, the plant still thrives and produces a crop of walnuts annually.

Come to think of it, maybe there is an estate agent angle to this after all...

"Additional accommodation to the west of the property offers open plan living on two levels with spectacular views and the opportunity to extend." Fantástico! ¿No concuerda usted?

Radio Times, Doctor Who and yet another 'Review of the Year'

Today I have taken my blogging inspiration from the Radio Times - or to use its own self-aggrandising terminology - 'the legendary Christmas Radio Times'.  Flicking through you will notice it basically comprises three things - the classic Christmas episodes, 'Review of the Year' type shows and an awful lot of stuff starring David Tennant.  Quite frankly I'm a little surprised the departing Doctor Who hasn't turned up in a bonnet on Cranford, kicked off an argument on Albert Square or given us his best Cha Cha Cha on Strictly Come Dancing.

Anyway, it seems a little late for Christmas-themed nonsense, and I've yet to crack time travel, so instead I thought I'd look back at the most memorable bits of my gardening year with the kids... 

Best garden we visited - without doubt, Hampton Court Gardens in Herefordshire - I mean a maze with an underground tunnel leading to a sunken garden - does garden exploration get more exciting for those under 10 (or over 35)?

Best thing we planted - bulbs, cress and even strawberry plants can't compare to the excitement of the children creating their own gardens this year. Well, I say 'created', but this is very much in the manner the Pharaohs 'created' the pyramids - the kids sent down orders from on high whilst I played the part of Egyptian slave.

Best things we made - I would probably choose either the insect hotel or our mini-scarecrow despite the fact the latter looks disturbingly like ET and has eyes which follow you round the garden in a manner reminiscent of those ancestral portraits in Scooby Doo.

Biggest disappointment - obviously, this has to be our failure to win the school sunflower competition.  Still, I am not deterred.  If it took Doris Lessing five decades to win the Nobel Prize for literature, I'm sure I can wait another year for my triumph.

As an aside, I had hoped this would be a guest post written by my daughter, but she's too busy - apparently she wants to watch David Tennant reading the bedtime story on Cbeebies...

Hampton Court Gardens, High Fidelity and glow-in-the-dark aliens

 
I'm not very good at top 10 lists. I didn't even manage my list of five celebrities that, you know, you're allowed to, well... didn't you see that episode of Friends? Anyway, I only ever get as far as George Clooney and John Cusack before I run out of inspiration. I think, as Nick Hornby ably demonstrated in High Fidelity, lists are really a boy thing. Still, if I did manage a list of top 10 gardens for kids, last week I would have found a new entry - Hampton Court Gardens.

Firstly, I should clear up any confusion.  I'm talking about Hampton Court Castle in Herefordshire, not the great Palace by the Thames.  Although, the latter is also very lovely, I have been rather embarrassed to return having once driven the wrong way out of the grounds when helping set up a show garden.  What I really love about the British public though is everyone is far too polite to comment on a Renault Clio blithely driving through the long borders...

Anyway, back to Herefordshire. Hampton Court Gardens are part of a rather splendid 15th century property, although one that has been so carefully restored, it does look a little like a Disney palace in places. The gardens were replanted back in the mid 1990s and are beautifully designed, carefully maintained and, most of all, fun.

Like its more famous cousin, the most exciting part for the kids has to be the maze.  However, I will see you your maze, and raise you a four doored Gothic tower at the centre (oh yes, that's right, you have to find the only door that opens) complete with underground tunnel leading to a sunken garden, with a waterfall you can walk behind (change of clothes vital especially when you have children who appear to think 'how wet can you get' is a great game).

Needless to say, last week we had to visit the garden twice and go through the tunnel about 10 times.  Warning though, the tunnel seemed to have no lighting at all and I was rather grateful that the aliens on Oscar's space-inspired raincoat lit up in the dark.

From a more horticultural perspective there is a walled vegetable garden with all manner of sunflower walkways, runner bean arches, meadow pathways and weird and wonderful looking edibles, plus an ornamental walled garden, 200 year old wisteria tunnel and a Dutch garden.  There are also substantial grounds with some beautiful trees for general running around mayhem and a river with bridge for playing 'Pooh leaves' (our own autumnal variation on the traditional game).

I even liked their signage...

 

Garden Visit: Wimpole Hall (part 1)

There are 213 hours until school restarts. It's wrong that I should know that (it is also wrong that I needed a calculator to work it out - Miss Braithwaite, GCSE maths, would not be happy). Whichever way you look at it though, the end is in sight and suddenly I realise I haven't even scratched the surface of all the wonderful 'mother of the year award' activities I planned to do with the children.

In a last minute attempt to win Brownie points, I dragged the kids to Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire last week.  In my naivety I had assumed we would be weekly visitors to this local National Trust property, but as it was we arrived two hours before closing time with no hope of covering all the activities on offer.

Best bits for kids (so far...)

 

Walled Garden - this area has become more child-friendly every year we've been.  Not only are the two acres of enclosed fruit, veg and flower beds a great visual treat, there are also scarecrows, made every year, to spot amongst the planting.  This year they even have a 'Walled Garden Challenge' leaflet for kids to complete during their trip with questions and trivia.

Home Farm - a working farm set within the estate, this is not strictly a garden visit, but believe me you won't get away without visiting it while you are there. You can watch cows being milked, pet rabbits, brush miniature ponies, feed goats and dress up piglets in Victorian costume (OK, I made that last one up).  There is also a large farm-based playground with lots of ride-on tractors, a combine harvester climbing space and, for this summer, a hale bay maze. 

Woodland Adventure Playground - accessed via the farm play area but hidden amongst the trees, this play area is great for slightly older children who find small plastic tractors a little junior for their tastes.

I now need to put aside four more hours to go back for a longer visit so I can explore the formal gardens and parkland with the kids... which only leaves me another 209 to fill...