Archive
Open Gardens 2013
Despite a rainy start to the day, Open Gardens stayed mostly dry, attracting more visitors than had initially been expected, and raising around £1100 in ticket sales, plant sales and cream teas. Seventeen gardens opened this year – up from eleven last year – and it was particularly good to see a number of new additions to the list of regular favourites.
If any of our readers is able to supply us with photos of the Childrens’ Show of paintings and plants in the Memorial Hall, we would delighted to share them. In the meantime, here is a small selection of photographs taken on the garden trail.
Please click on any photo to view the whole gallery in full-screen size.
2012 Open Gardens
Eleven Parwich households opened their gardens to visitors today, and thankfully the rain was kept at bay all the way through the afternoon – a rare stroke of luck, indeed!
This week’s Ashbourne News Telegraph – copies of which are still available – carried a full page colour preview of the event, with photos taken from previous years, and perhaps this helped to encourage what felt like a healthy turn-out of visitors.
This year’s delayed summer also meant that we were able to see these gardens at a somewhat earlier stage of development, with poppies, lupins, peonies and aquilegeas all providing unexpected splashes of colour.
Thanks are due to the Parwich & District Horticultural Society for organising the event, which also included cream teas and a plant stall at the Memorial Hall, as well as the childrens’ show of paintings and plants.
If any of our readers has photographs of the childrens’ show, we would be delighted to receive them. In the meantime, here are a selection of shots from this year’s gardens, all of which can be clicked to enlarge.
1. Pond Cottage
2. Cosheston
3. Flaxdale
4. Church Cottage
5. Church View (also right hand photo above)
6. Wash Meadow
7. Creamery Cottage
8. Parwich Hall
9. Wheatsheaf Cottage
10. Rookery House
11. Town Head
All photos by Kevin S.
2011 Open Gardens
Courtesy of JF-S, here’s our second gallery of photos, starting with the Children’s Horticultural Show and continuing with photos of the Open Gardens.
Terra Nova School Staff Choir at Open Gardens
Thanks to Ed L for sending us a photo of this prize-winning choir, captured in concert at the Drummond residence yesterday afternoon.
Please click to enlarge.
This year, eighteen Parwich gardens opened their doors to visitors – and with the rain thankfully holding off, this turned out to be another very successful event.
As well as the various horticultural delights, villagers and visitors alike got to enjoy the splendid children’s show in the Memorial Hall, along with delicious cream teas and a plant sale. Elsewhere, the Flaxdale art exhibition and bric-a-brac sale continued for a second day, as did Lewis Noble’s open studio. The school held an open day, Hayley Powell staged a blacksmithing display at The Barn, The A52s played a gig at Rookery House, and a talented vocal troupe, Terra Nova School Staff Choir, staged impromptu recitals at various locations round the village. The day finished with a Father’s Day barbecue at the Legion, while the Horticultural Society laid on a “thank you” buffet for weary and grateful exhibitors at the hall.
Hot off the presses, here’s a gallery of all eighteen gardens, accompanied by Lynette and John’s colourful and creative signage. As always, these photos will look so much better if they are enlarged; click on each image for a bigger version.
1. Brook Close Farm
2. Pond Cottage
3. Cosheton
4. The School
5. Stable Cottage
6. Wheatsheaf Cottage
7. Rookery House
8. Parwich Hall
9. Gardener’s Cottage
10. Knob Hall
11. Orchard Farm
12. Creamery Cottage
13. Wash Meadow
14. Church View
15. The Barn
16. Church Cottage
17. Flaxdale
18. The Fold
2010 Open Gardens
Currently planned to hold the 2010 Open Gardens on Sunday 20th June. Watch this space for more details.
2009 Open Gardens
2008 Open Gardens
Click here to see slide show
Everyone will agree that this year’s event has been a great success. The weather was a welcome improvement on last year. This year 17 gardens were open. The Horticultural Society appreciates all the hard work involved in preparing your gardens and tidying up afterwards, in addition to the time taken on the day; so a very big thank you to all who opened their gardens. Also well done Dot; the day ran smoothly, as always. This is one of those great days in the year, like Wakes, when one is so glad to be part of such a marvelous community.
As always there was nothing but praise for the gardens and for Parwich. Thank you to everyone who helped with the organisation. The cream teas, with scones and jam donated by villagers, as always was much enjoyed by all. The milk and cream was supplied by Bostern Grange Farm. Freda and Sheila provided the flower arrangements that decorated the tea tables, and which make the hall so welcoming.
Thank you to Pat for organising the teas, and to all the volunteers who gave up their time to serve and wash-up.
Special thanks to Ashbourne Band for enlivening the Green during the afternoon.
The Tombola and the plant plants stall were a great successwith takings well up on last year. Thank you to all who donated plants (including Tissington and Wyaston Nurseries) and the Tombola prizes, and thank you to all who helped staff the stalls.
After expenses we hope to have made around £800 on the day. The money will be used to pay for the Children’s Horticultural Show and to underwrite the Main Flower and Vegetable Show in September. (Children don’t forget you can enter the geraniums again in the September Show.) With last year’s money we helped sponsor a film showing in the village, to support Stepping Stones (the local pre-school group) and contribute towards Parwich Primary School’s trip to the Gardens at Chatsworth. We will make decisions about what to support for this year’s money at the Horticultural Society’s AGM in November. Do come along to the meeting or let the Committee know if you have any ideas.
This year there were some seven entries to the Scarecrow Competition. For those that did not get to see the entries, have a look at the earlier post. The first prize going to Parwich Under 5’s, also netting them the McCormick Trophy, for a splendid group of children playing under the supervision of a frighteningly realistic lady scarecrow. Second prize went to the Dickinson family, and third prize to Barbara E. Well done to all entries and thank you to Irene and Sandra for hot footing it around the village to undertake the difficult task of judging.
This year (2008) the Open Gardens will be in the afternoon of Sunday 22nd of June. As usual we will have an open Scarecrow Competition on the same day.
Sneak preview of Pool Croft garden summer 2008
Click on this link for more Parwich 2008 garden photos
2007 Open Gardens
We were all optimistic about the weather, right up to the last minute. For the last eleven years we have had excellent weather, if anything some years it has been to hot, and, in the couple of years there was rain, it conveniently stopped in time. However our luck could not last for ever. This year some seventeen gardens were open: Parwich Hall, Flaxdale House, Brook Cottage, Creamery Cottage, Cosheston, Orchard Farm, Gardeners Cottage, Townhead, Walnut Cottage, Stable Cottage, Church Cottage, Wheatsheaf Cottage, Knob Hall and the Fold; and for the first time this year Wash Meadow, School View and Parwich Primary School. Thank you to all who opened their gardens.
Despite the almost incessant rain the day was a great success. Nearly 200 hundred people visited the gardens, which given the weather was remarkable. Although this is less than recent years, it is heartening that people were keen to come from as far as Staffordshire, South Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. As always there was nothing but praise for the gardens and for Parwich. Thank you to everyone who opened their gardens and who helped with the organisation. The cream teas, with scones and jam donated by villagers, as always was much enjoyed by all. The milk and cream was supplied by Bostern Grange Farm. Freda and Sheila Kinder provided the flower arrangements that decorated the tea tables, and which make the hall so welcoming. Thank you to all the volunteers who gave up their time to serve and wash-up. The Tombola and the plant plants stall were a bit slower than usual, but both were sold out by the end of the day with takings about the same as last year. Thank you to all who donated plants (including Tissington Nursery) and prizes, and thank you to all who helped staff the stalls.
After expenses we expect to make around five hundred pounds on the day. The money will be used to underwrite the Children’s Horticultural Show and the Main Flower and Vegetable Show in September. With last year’s money we help sponsor the Memorial Hall’s successful funding bid for digital projector equipment for the film showings and are to pay for Parwich Primary School’s trip to Sheffield Botanical Gardens in September. We also plan to buy more plants for the boarder at the Jubilee Garden at Nether Green and support other small projects. We will make decisions about what to support for this year’s money at the Horticultural Society’s AGM in November.
Leave a Reply