Take one look at my garden planted
haphazardly with plants that are probably ill-suited to the soil type, aspect
or location and you’ll know I’m not a skilled gardener. Those flowers that
thrive do so in spite of my efforts. I don’t even particularly like gardening,
limiting myself to bunging in some bedding plants, pulling up a few weeds and
doing a bit of dead heading, whilst sipping a glass of wine on a summer’s
evening. I do, however, love sitting out in the garden, admiring my efforts and
am often found swinging gently in the hammock, enjoying a latte or
aforementioned glass of wine, depending on how low the sun is in the sky!
Whilst gardening isn't a great passion of
mine, photography is, particularly close ups of plants and flowers. I’ve
visited many of Cheshire’s beautiful gardens and lost myself for several hours,
engrossed in my favourite activity.
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| One of the many glorious show gardens - I love the quirky ones! |
Going to the RHS Tatton Flower Show is an
un-missable opportunity for me to indulge in my love for flower photography,
enjoyment of other people’s hard work in creating beautiful outside spaces and,
of course, some retail therapy. And did I mention drinking Pimms in the
sunshine and nattering with Debbie, my sister-in-law? A day at Tatton isn’t
always this idyllic – we’ve stood like drowned rats in the entrance to the
floral marquee and fought vicious battles with pensioners over free tables and
chairs in the sheltered eating areas.
But this year’s visit on Friday 26th
July was absolutely perfect, with wall-to-wall sunshine guaranteed. The newly
invented Ladies’ Day inspired us to switch jeans and crocs for sandals and
frocks (neither of us do posh hats, we haven’t got the right kind of heads) and
we set off on our grand day out in the Cheshire countryside.
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| Propping each other up! |
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| Ladies day for young and old |
One of the things I really love about our
annual visit, aside from the awe inspiring gardens and floral displays, is that
it is a wonderful place for endulging in people watching. I have a hypothesis
that you can break down the visitors to Tatton into four main types (forgive
me, these are a bit tongue in cheek):
The stalwart RHS members who take their
gardening extremely seriously, as evidenced by their sensible walking shoes,
rucksacks, picnic lunches, thermos flasks and those walking sticks that become
little stools.
The Cheshire Set – posh summer frocks and
big handbags, 3 course luncheon reservations in the formal dining room and jugs
of Pimms in the afternoon. Ladies Day gave them the excuse for even posher
frocks and big hats this year.
Weekend gardeners – that’s us! We’re there
to enjoy a day out admiring the show gardens, pick up a few plants that are
unlikely to see another season and buy some totally useless garden gadget. I’ve
been known to arrive home with a rake that no one could use and a very
expensive blender that is only ever employed to make smoothies these days.
And finally the photographers (me in
spirit) who are focused (!) solely on capturing shots of the abundance of
beautiful plants and gardens. Almost every visitor to Tatton has a camera in
some guise but I’m talking about the true enthusiast or pro with cameras and
bags hanging off both shoulders.
I would love to visit the flower show twice
each year, once as a browser, shopper and sipper of Pimms and then again a
second time armed only with my camera and a zoom lens. I’ve managed to combine
both needs each year on one visit but I have to strike a compromise to ensure
that Debbie wants to come along with me the following year!
This year I stood near the exit just before
the show closed - in the lovely low slanting sunlight of early evening – and
enjoyed watching people leave, dragging behind them trollies full of bobbing
flowers, carrying long pieces of twisted metal trellis, occasionally smart
designer carrier bags (the posh ones with string handles) and some just with a single
plastic bag containing a few much sought after plant specimens. I think
everyone leaves at the end of the day with a smile on their face (aching,
possibly soggy feet aside), for there’s something very uplifting about being
surrounded for a day by nature’s bounty. With bees buzzing around flower heads
wherever you turn and butterflies flitting from one bloom to another it feels
like a little bit of paradise, pure escapism for a day.
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| But not everyone loves Tatton! |
This blog was originally published on the
Cheshire Life website. I've included more pics here.
By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!
