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Hinxworth’s very first Open Gardens
…event was a great success.
We had 12 gardens open, all very different from each other. They ranged from the smaller ‘bijou’ variety through the natural ‘nature in all its glory’ variety, to the grander, more formally landscaped variety; yet each showing the love and attention lavished on them by their owners.
The weather was very kind to us and over 90 people wandered round the gardens and enjoyed a cream tea at Middle Farm House.
A huge thank you to the gardeners whom I know had been slaving away for weeks keeping those pesky weeds at bay, taming those borders and grooming and encouraging that grass! Also thanks are due to the unsung heroes, the tea ladies, who slaved over hot kettles and washing up water; to Claire Hay for her numerous trips to Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s; Rochelle Mortier for providing the tea; Jean Wilkinson, Biddy Sheldrick and my mum for scones; and not least to Les and Jayne for becoming the best cream tea venue in Hertfordshire!!
Amazingly we made £361 for MacMillan and Garden House Hospice (£180.50 each) – so thank you to everyone whose donations helped make this such a resounding success.
If you missed the opportunity this year either to visit or to show your garden, make it a date for next year!
Big Tidy Up 2010
On Saturday 22nd May 2010 bright and early on a lovely morning about 15 people gathered at the Village Hall to get involved in the Big Tidy Up. This involved wearing very attractive lurid green plastic vests and toting matching very large bin bags, an assortment of thick gloves and rather efficient looking grabby things. We got our assignments and then dispersed to clear our designated patches of verge and ditches around the community. Bizarrely, I think, we all quite enjoyed ourselves; it was certainly satisfying to see the immediate results of our hard work in the absence of litter in our immediate area. However it is certainly depressing to realise just how much junk people think it is quite okay to chuck out of their car windows as they are passing through our lovely countryside. Bob, Vicky and I collected 3 full bin bags from just the Edworth turn to the A1 and Heidi and her family found some very attractive large lumps of metal! But needless to say everyone came back to the hall with a rather disappointingly large haul of assorted rubbish.
Then, thanks to our kitchen elfs, Reggie Fair, Audrey Clare and others we were treated to a very nice lunch which some of us ate in the sun. All in all a good day’s work – sad that it was necessary but looking forward to next year and maybe a little extra help so that we can do more!
Thank you to everyone who helped with the event!