Cropwell Bishop Village Parish Plan

Pride in the Fall (21-10-13)

As soon as you realise that , 'Fall', in the title refers to the American word for Autumn, it all makes sense.

Gail Summerfield, with the support of her husband John, showed us that this time of the year need not be a dull, colourless season in our own garden. With imagination, and by pinching lots of ideas from Gail and her fellow experts, our garden can have form, colour and interest right through to the start of winter.

Their home, and garden nursery, Westshores Nurseries, are up near Scunthorpe by the Humber Bridge. I am sure that they experience tougher Autumn weather than us in Cropwell Bishop, so anything that grows in their back garden is likely to thrive here.

Just look at the pictures here for ideas.

Tony Jarrow

Wentworth Castle Gardens (18-9-13)

We all met ready for our visit to Wentworth Castle Gardens with a mixture of 'Great British stoicism' as instructed and trepidation due to the dire storms forecasted for that day.

This turned out to be quite unnecessary , yes it was very blustery ( described by a Yorkshireman) and yes we did eventually get rain but not until the majority of the party had viewed the gardens and we actually saw the sun on several occasions .

We were greeted by a friendly staff member who gave us a very useful guide to the garden and added that there was a Craft Fair at the Visitor Centre that day which cheered most of the female members at least. The Wentworth Garden Guide stated there would be a surprise around every corner and this proved to be the case, from the multi coloured dahlia beds in the John Arnold Garden to the much appreciated shelter provided by the tall mixed holly hedges of the Union Jack Gardens,then you come to the bright yellow and blues of the VIctorian Flower Garden known locally as the secret garden.

At the top of the garden you come across Stainborough Castle, not a real castle but a folly or giant Wendy house built by Thomas Wentworth. You can climb up the tower but not being good with high places on a blustery day we chickened out !! There were many more gardens and areas to explore and when the rain started we finally made for the cafe for a very welcome lunch after which we just had time to visited the Craft Fair before meeting the coach for our return trip.

All in all an excellent visit, the gardens would be well worth a visit to see the azaleas in bloom and of course we did not do a Parkland Walk as time did not permit and lunch with a hot cuppa beckoned !!

Jenny Thompson

Photos by:
Judy Thomas &
Mel Stanley

People, Plants, Pleasure and Passion (20-5-13)

At every meeting of the Gardening Club you know that you will learn something about some aspect of gardening.

At this evening's meeting we not only learned about plants, their habits and their names, we were also entertained by the presentation skills of Don Witton who travelled down from Yorkshire to share his enthusiasm for growing and enjoying plants.

By the end of the talk we had toured his allotment, his back garden, been with him on the film set of Gardeners World, travelled to Portugal and, at everu stop, examined the colours and features of a multitude of plants — in particular, his favourites, Euphorbias.

We may enjoy being in our own back garden but on a cool windy evening in late September, it is nicer to be sitting in the comfortable Old School with friends, thanks to the organisers of the Gardening Club Meeting.

Tony Jarrow