A fine selection of vegetables

Plant sale in the village

• We have the horticultural society plant sale on Saturday 18th May 2013 in the Lowdham village hall car park from 9.00am to 11.00am. There will be vegetable plants,summer bedding plants, annuals and perennials available. – all at a most reasonable price. Donations of plants are always welcome.

We have two evening visits planned as follows;

• A tour around the Langar wildflower farm on Thursday 13th June 2013
• A visit to ‘Charnwood’, the garden of Kate Foale, (a recent speaker during our series of talks in the village) on Friday 05th July 2013.

Both visits include refreshments, are subsidised for members at £3.00 or for non-members £6.00. Please meet in Lowdham village hall car park at 7.00 p.m. to share transport. If you wish, you may meet us at each location for a 7.30 p.m. start.

Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested in either visit for catering purposes.

I am planning a visit by coach to the National Trust property and gardens at Waddesdon Manor near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire on Sunday 15th September – so keep this date free! More details to follow.

IMPORTANT; The date of our ‘summer social’ is now Thursday 11th July at 7.30 p.m. in Lowdham W.I. hall. Invitations are to be sent out soon.

Finally, someone left their entry of a ‘spiky succulent’ plant behind in the village hall after the spring show. It is flowering away happily at my house and I would love to return it to its rightful owner – please let me know if it is yours!

Nicola Macdonald

!!HYPERLINK ” mail to :na246@btinternet.com”  or tel no 0115 9665201

, a

After the seemingly endless winter of 2012/13 and resultant lateness of the much awaited spring, our concerns about a lack of exhibits for the spring show were almost totally unfounded. Together with the art exhibition of ‘floral art’ staged by the Lowdham Painting for Pleasure Group, and remarkably an overall increase in flower and shrub exhibits to a total of 183, a most enjoyable and colourful spring show was held. In excess of 150 adults plus children attended the event and many positive comments were received regarding the quality and number of exhibits. We thank all those who supported the show and would welcome feedback and of course any ideas and importantly assistance for future shows.

Despite the bitterly cold and dismal day, the visit was rewarding in that we saw the wonderful display of snowdrops, hellebore and cyclamen in the gardens. We had access to the walled kitchen garden and the extensive parkland forming the estate. We had a most enjoyable lunch in a lovely room, being well looked after by the staff. The facilities included a cafeteria, restaurant, farm shop and retail outlet. We hope all who went on the trip have now ‘thawed out’ and are looking forward to more visits.

Please note that a selection of photographs are now available on the website gallery under the heading ‘Doddington Hall visit’. If you ‘double click’ on an image, you will be able to view a larger version of the photograph. Hope you like the images.

Our first trip of 2013 is planned for Sunday 24th February to Doddington Hall which is near Lincoln. We hope to see their spectacular show of snowdrops and the gardens. We will be leaving Lowdham at approx 10:30am and travelling by coach. There will also be an opportunity to look around the very popular farm shop. There will be time (we hope) for a spot of lunch in the cafe or restaurant.

All are welcome and the cost of the trip is £10 for members and £12 for non members. The price includes both the coach and entry to the gardens. We are hoping for a bright spring day, but it could be chilly so wrap up warm!

For more info. re Doddington Hall see www.doddingtonhall.com

If you would like more details or to join the trip please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Nicola Macdonald – tel 0115 966 5201 or email na246@btintenet.com