Snakes and Ducklings

The last couple of weeks have been really busy as the Plant Fair and May Bank Holiday have been on consecutive weekends. Both are important events at Spetchley and we have been running around trying to get the gardens as tidy as possible.
The Plant Fair went well again, although I was unable to attend, having previously booked a weekend retreat with my church. I was told that people were very keen to buy vegetable plants to grow on, and cut rhubarb went so well that we are unable to keep up with demand.

My husband has just gone to Hong Kong for 3 weeks to do some voluntary work, so we are missing his help in the garden. He has been doing all the main cylinder mowing and saving us a lot of time. For three weeks we will have to do it ourselves. We really miss him!! He also took our camera with him so this month’s picture is an trusted old favourite of ducks and geese on the lake, both with their offspring.

That reminds me of a tale Richard told me last week of finding a ducking on the drive and having to throw it into the Horse Pool to return it to its mother. Unfortunately, although he managed to save one of the ducklings there were two more in the water that had sadly not survived the torrential rain of the previous evening.

Talking of wildlife, I did a tour at the beginning of last month and the highlight of the trip for the group of visitors was spotting a couple of large grass snakes swimming around the Heron Pool in the Kitchen Garden! I must admit it was amazing to see.

The gardens have been lovely, some of the paeonies are looking fantastic. As soon as I get the camera back I will be out taking photos of them for the blog....

Best wishes

Kate