Wow, another enjoyable visit on a fine day. Bit of a slow approach for us as we arrived at the entrance gates to the parkland just as some of the ‘runners’ were completing a 10k event, which finished adjacent to the parking area. Eventually, after great patience by our driver we alighted from the coach, being given our specific times to tour the house and gardens. After all that coffee beckoned! The house with peeling paintwork and overgrown courtyards depicts the dramatic decline of a grand country-house estate. We visited the many walled gardens, orangery, auricula theatre, kitchen gardens and the orchard with many varieties of fruit. This trip brought an end to our 2015 visits which have been very well supported. I’m sure that you will join me in giving an enormous thank you to our chairperson who does a tremendous job in organising the visits. Furthermore, let’s give ‘three cheers’ to our committee for their efforts this year and all those who have helped. Finally, we hope to see you at our AGM which is on Thurs 15th October 2015 at 7.30pm in Lowdham W.I. hall.

Well, what a fantastic talk by a qualified beekeeper. I would imagine everyone who was present is still buzzing…..!! Despite the projector having failed just prior to the talk, Alec kept us enthralled for at least 11/2 hrs by talking through a year as a beekeeper and of course enlightening us on the life of bees. Simply amazing. The action in a beehive throughout a year, including during the cold winter months was explained in a most understandable manner. The Queen bee is certainly very busy, so much so that eventually she is exhausted and eventually replaced with a young Queen bee. Now, the drones (ie; the male bees) have only one role to play, and I’ll leave you to hazard a guess on what that might be!

Alec advised on how we can help bees in our gardens by planting flowers such as sunflowers, asters, foxgloves, plus vegetables like peas and beans, flowering herbs – mint,rosemary and others. In addition fruit trees, soft fruits and popular garden shrubs like buddleia, hebe and hydrangea. In fact there are numerous plants you can choose as shown in The British Beekeepers Association information booklet entitled ‘Planting For Honey Bees’.

The many challenges which bees (also the beekeeper of course) have to face were explained, include climatic conditions, viruses and other insects, some of these making their way across continents.

One particular aspect of the movement of bees we were advised on was that if we spot a swarm of bees, which is a natural process, contact your local Beekeepers Association or go to – www.BBKA.org.uk and click on the link to find a swarm collector. Leave the bees undisturbed and wait for a competent beekeeper to arrive.

Alec brought along some honey produced in his beehives, which he markets as ‘Trent Valley Honey’. I can assure you that it is delicious, go on, try some locally produced honey, it is good for you.

This was a wonderful informative talk delivered in an easy manner by a most knowledgeable beekeeper, enjoyed by everyone, including I’m sure the three young people in attendance who asked most interesting questions along with the adults who were present.

Well, I could go on and on, but I’m sure that you have now read enough from ‘Beesarus’, so I’ll sign off………..

First of all, sorry for the delay in posting a blog with a few images from the show. Despite the awful wet weather in the morning, the attendance this year was up on the previous year (also rather wet). Furthermore, I understand that the duck race, the teas and cakes, the skittles were all very well supported. More good news, the number of exhibits was up on last year with the standard being very high indeed. In fact, Stuart Dixon (BBC Radio Nottingham) who presented the awards commented on this on the radio last Sunday morning. Praise indeed to all those having entered the show. Hopefully, this will encourage more people to ‘have a go’ at entering an exhibit of some kind in the 2016 Summer Show. As can be seen below, a word of praise is certainly in order for Dako’s Flying Angels who performed admirably on a very difficult wet surface. Well, that’s all for now, hope you enjoyed the show if you came along, and if you were not there, then we hope to see you next year.

We enjoyed a most relaxing and interesting visit to the the cottage garden of Stuart Dixon (BBC Radio Nottingham gardening expert) and his wife, the visit being enhanced by lovely evening sunshine. Stuart can be seen above enjoying some fruit from his cherry tree with our own fruit and vegetable expert Adrian in the background.  The garden has extensive herbaceous borders full of perennials, with a wide variety of bush, standard and climbing roses. Added to this are fruit trees, plus other fruits such as gooseberry bushes and a vegetable garden area. There is a woodland area and open spaces in which to relax with extensive views over towards the River Trent. Towards the end of our visit we enjoyed tea and buttered scones served by Stuart’s wife from the charming cottage.

You may like to make a note in your diary that with regard to our annual Summer Show on August Bank Holiday Monday (Aug 31st), as announced by Stuart on BBC Radio Nottingham today (Sunday 19th July) he is scheduled to present the prizes at our show. So try to come along and enjoy a relaxing and sociable village show.

Wow, what a most enjoyable visit we had to this National Trust garden, which has 400 steps throughout the garden. (Don’t we know it!) It is a Victorian horticultural masterpiece full of intrigue and surprise. The vast range of trees, shrubs and flowers is simply amazing. Fortunately, the weather was gorgeous, which enabled us to see the colours of the rhododendrons and azaleas contrasting with the lake and backdrop of trees. The visit took us on a journey from an Italian terrace, to an Egyptian pyramid, via an Himalayan glen and an amazing Chinese inspired garden. We were able to take our refreshments outside and by mid afternoon the cream scones, cakes and cups of tea were the order of the day.

We hope that everyone on the coach had an enjoyable day. Unfortunately our departure was delayed slightly, due to a road traffic accident at the entrance to the gardens. I hope that you will join me in wishing the motorcyclist who was injured and then transferred very carefully into an ambulance a full recovery.

Once again, thank you to our organiser and committee for another memorable visit.