Toby’s Garden Festival
Lush Devon the hedgerows resplendent in leaf; coloured patchwork of seeded sand and deep red soil; florescent yellow rape in bloom.
Balancing stones from Bodmin.
Art, botanics, ceramics, and socks from Melplash
French, Thai and Persian cuisine, cones of vivid colour on earthenware dishes
Anyone for a cuppa:
into marquees from damp weather
Queues for coffee and delicious hot chocolate
Succulent cakes with succulents in icing.
Farm produce, hot cheese rolls, and unusual ice creams
Packed marquees, entertaining lectures and samples to taste.
Rusted metal supports, basket makers and recycled tools:
‘I’ve been in business for forty years’, but he didn’t have a long-handled bulb planter…
Cut flowers, plant stalls, charities for this, that and t’other
Don’t forget the plants, the insects and the hungry.
Have a chat and move on, a tale told and something sold.
Into the house for a wine tasting and VIP’s get a further peak
The rose garden open with views across the park but the chapel is closed.
Sit down and rest in tranquillity amongst the topiary and ornamental statutory.
Below the steps under the wisteria Timothy Tortoise takes a longer rest.
A model train driven by big kids, goes forwards and backwards,
as must we over the bridge to spring lambs dotted on a Devon hillside
… and back to Dorset.
Article and photographs copyright Sarah Herring