Visiting someone else’s garden is an English pastime with much to commend it. Lawn, shrubs and flower-beds look their colourful best in the bright June sunlight and someone else has done all the work of preparing this. A visual delight, a social meeting place, a selection of home-made cakes and refreshments, and a worthy charitable cause to support, what more could one wish for?
The venue on Saturday, June 3 was Hartshorn House, the home of David and Susie Nelson. The cause was the Memorial Hospital at Rye, and it was Jane Conlin on behalf of the trustees of the Hospital who had brought all this together, starting with the innocently directed question put to David Nelson: “I wonder who has a suitable garden in Rye with a side entrance to host a garden party?” There was no denying the appeal, and indeed he was obviously enjoying the experience of sharing the garden which he and Susie had largely re-modelled since buying the house in Mermaid Street a few years ago.
The event raised £1420 on the gate with a further £240 through the sale of raffle tickets.
Photo: garden Kenneth Bird, house – Heidi Foster