June 27th

A warm, sunny day. Patrick watering. Broad beans, onions, sugar snap peas for sale at turret. Modest attendance at Gardeners' Question Hour. Dry weather is helping keep down the weeds. Sweet peas in full bloom and flower border looking at its best now. Artichokes (green globe) nearly ready for cutting. BK

Very warm. Broad beans now for sale from turret, along with purple sprouting kale, onions, sweet peas, squash seedlings, tomato plants, sweet william. Christina fed the hens and geese, Lorraine watering, Andrew trimming the edges, Jude and Lucy watering too. BK

June 23rd

A warm, sunny day in the walled garden. First cut sweet peas on sale at the turret, along with runner bean seedlings, sweet william, purple sprouting kale, bunches of red and white onions, still some tomato, cucumber, squash seedlings available.
Jude and Lydia planting out annual flowers, Rose welcoming visitors at the gate. Strawberries now being picked every couple of days for the restaurant. BK

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party: Sunday 27 June 11am - 4.30pm

Join Alice and her friends for fun and games in the gardens and an afternoon tea party.  Free games available all day.  Fancy dress optional!  Some small charges for some activities.  Why not bring a picnic and enjoy your lunch in the parkland and join in the National Trust's Big Picnic week?  Children's picnic boxes available from the Stables Restaurant.  Tea and cake served from 3pm - 4pm.  Normal admission charges apply.  No booking necessary EXCEPT for the tea party which must be booked in advance on 01884 254665.  Tea party tickets £2.50 adults and £1.50 children. 

Fathers' Day Cricket Tea: Sunday 20 June 3pm-4.30pm

Special Fathers' Day Cricket tea served in the Stables Restaurant.  Tel: 01884 259416 for more information.  £6.95 per person.  No booking necessary

June 16th

A warm sunny day. Peter, Andrew and Matthew were busy weeding the broad beans, Lydia planting the runner beans and Lorraine planting out the tomatoes into their outdoor beds. Squash, dwarf French bean, tomato, annual bedding, marrow, cucumber and lettuce seedlings on sale at the turret.
Visited at the weekend by William Lascelles, who worked in the walled garden in the 1960s and was providing information on how it was then.
Strawberry, radish and spinach crops available through the restaurant, with first early potatoes and onions about to follow. BK

June 9th

After the rains, sunshine, which will produce abundant growth of plants in the kitchen garden, both the good kind and the bad (weeds)! Lydia worked hard to get all our dwarf French bean seedlings planted; runner beans are about to follow. Lettuce, tomato, chili and dwarf French bean plants are currently for sale at the Turret, alonmg with cosmos. Strawberries are ripening daily, soon to be picked.

Return From Holiday

This morning was lovely. Rain as well. After being on holiday for 5 days, I've returned to my favourite place where Sharon is cooking lovely fresh scones and the coffee is brewing. Now that's a homely smell!!! RT

Rain

Much-needed rain has at last arrived here. The volunteers are out working in it, taking up the old 'Reddy' spinach to make room for another crop. More chickens are being ordered, battery farm rescues, to supplement our existing residents. The aroma du jour is that of topped onions, our first picking of them. The bigger ones are still in the ground, almost ready for harvest, having been planted last autumn. BK

June 5th

The blue tit chicks are now fledged. First onions nearly ready to harvest, first strawberries ripening well. Weather continues warm and dry. Lorraine, Jude, Lucy and Christina have been busy planting out the cucurbits: courgettes in the south west part of the garden, pumpkins and othr larger squash in the north east.

The wisteria is wonderful

I am sitting in the office overlooking the formal gardens and the smell of the wisteria is wafting in through the windows. It is a beautiful, warm, sunny day and how many offices can have this view!

June 3rd

A fine sunny day here all day. The six blue tit chicks in the nesting box, visible on the CCTV monitor, look just about ready to fledge. Lorraine picked the last Timperley Early rhubarb of the spring, available for sale in the turret this weekend. Strawberries starting to ripen and looking much better for Christina's weeding efforts. Tomato, lettuce, pea and hot pepper seedlings still available for sale, likely to be sold out in a few days, making room for the first onions and potatoes. Asparagus attracting attention, nearly done cropping in a few days.