NGS – Countdown – Bring it on!

My esteemed clients at Blaen-Cwndu Farm, Gareth and Alison, have decided to open their garden to the public as part of the National Garden Scheme.

I am not coming to this task as an innocent. Cliffe Garden in North Devon, where I worked for 8 years, was open every day from 1 April (appropriate) to the end of September. I recall the scrabble to get the garden back into shape after our winter hibernation, which we had spent hunkering down from the wicked northerlies whilst eating copious amounts of cake and chatting about Nietzsche. My desperate pleas of “just weed at the front, Von, no one will see the back!” is burnt into my soul with a fire brand. Too dramatic? Perhaps.

I can’t, however, say I’m surprised. One of the first things Gareth said to me, when I was first enchanted/ensnared by this wonderful place 3 years ago, was that it was his dream to open the garden to the public. My eye may have twitched a little, but I smiled politely and thought “Don’t worry, that urge will pass”. It didn’t.

The date is set, September 13th. There is no turning back. Nor would we want to. The garden is worth sharing. There is time to make it even better. There is time to panic. But not yet. At the moment there is just anticipation and excitement.

And then I had one of my “brilliant” ideas. I would document the lead up to this momentous event by sharing the journey with you. The good, the bad, the tragic, the glorious, the weeping and the laugher. There is bound to be all these and more.

My loins are girded and you are coming along for the ride. Bring it on!