At Lowdham C of E Primary School, Main Street, Lowdham, Notts
A day of events run by ‘The Bookcase’ in partnership with Lowdham Horticultural Society celebrating gardens and gardeners through the ages.

10.30 – 11.30am – Gardeners Question Time Chaired by BBC Radio Nottingham’s John Holmes, and with panellists Stuart Dixon, Mike Poyzer of the Nottingham Organic Gardeners and Geoff Burton from Lowdham Horticultural Society – ask the experts to help solve your gardening problems! Tickets: £5 full, £4 Festival Friends and Lowdham Horticultural Society Members

12 – 1pm – Stuart Dixon – The Garden of Hebbs Farmhouse
Horticultural lecturer, writer and broadcaster Stuart Dixon will share the story of the restoration of his own garden at Hebbs Farmhouse in Stoke Bardolph. The derelict garden contained two ancient Bramley Apple trees and about 1,000 brambles and nettles. It now contains over 1,000 perennials, 150 old roses, and clematis, in a traditional country garden which will be open to the public in summer 2014.  Fully illustrated.
Tickets: £4 full, £3 Festival Friends and Lowdham Horticultural Society Members

2.30 – 4pm Ursula Buchan – A Green and Pleasant Land: How England’s Gardeners Fought The Second World War.  Fired by enthusiastic patriotism, the British people tackled wartime gardening with thrifty ingenuity, invincible humour and extraordinary fortitude. However, as Ursula Buchan reveals, this simple act of turning over soil and tending new plants was also a powerful factor in mitigating the psychological shocks endured by the population. Gardening reminded Britons that their country, and its more innocent pursuits, were worth fighting for. Gardening in wartime Britain was a fight for freedom.. Ursula Buchan studied modern history at Cambridge University, before training as a horticulturist at the RHS Gardens, Wisley and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. She wrote a gardening column for a succession of national newspapers, including the Observer, Sunday Telegraph and Daily Telegraph, as well as The Spectator, for more than twenty-five years. She has published fifteen books and won two major writing awards from the Garden Media Guild. She was recently awarded the Garden Media Guild’s Gardening Columnist of the Year 2011.  Tickets: £6 full, £5 Festival Friends and Lowdham Horticultural Society Members

4.30 – 5.15pm – Poems about Gardens
We close the day over tea and home made cake with readings from the lovely Candlestick Press book Poems about Gardens.
Tickets: £3 full, £2 Festival Friends and Lowdham Horticultural Society Members

Day ticket: £15 full, £12.50 Festival Friends and Lowdham Horticultural Society Members

All tickets on sale now from ‘The Bookcase’ Lowdham.

Last Sunday, 15^th September was our coach trip to Waddesdon Manor and Gardens, Buckinghamshire.  The forecast had not been good, but we luckily escaped the showers!  We had a very interesting day walking around the gardens, then enjoying an excellent lunch in the Manor Restaurant, before going on a tour of the house and viewing the very impressive ‘Rothschild Collection’.

I think everyone who went, enjoyed themselves and would certainly recommend a day out there.  Maybe when the weather is a little warmer!

Our next planned visit is to Cambridge University Botanic Gardens and Anglesey Abbey on Sunday 2^nd March 2014.

Our next trip is planned for Sunday 7th October to Bluebell Arboretum near Ashby de la Zouch. We will be leaving from Lowdham at approximately 9.30am and travelling there by coach.

When we arrive we are having a two and half hour guided tour of the arboretum entitled ‘Exciting Plants with Autumn Colour’. We will then get chance to look around the nursery and hopefully buy some of the lovely plants that we have been inspired by.

All are welcome and the cost of the trip is £11 to members and £13 to non members. This price covers both the transport and tour costs. We have been advised to wear sturdy footwear as the ground may be muddy (weather dependant).

If you would like to join our trip or would like more details, don’t hesitate to leave a comment, contact us by e-mail, or you can call me on 0115 9665201.

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Well done to everyone involved and thank you to all those people who joined us on Bank Holiday Monday for another busy and successful Summer Show. It was great to see so many people out enjoying the entertainment and band, and the weather was even kind to us!

The marquee looked lovely, filled with beautiful flowers, impressive vegetables and tasty produce. The young people excelled themselves this year, with lots of imaginative and creative entries. The photographic competition also had many artistic entries. We must have a great number of talented people living in and around Lowdham as shown by the diverse range of entries in the handicrafts classes.

The Village Hall seemed to be constantly filled with chatter as visitors enjoyed teas and homemade cakes.

The crowd gathered for a dramatic display by the Dako Flying Angels, followed by a real favourite the Duck Race. The trophies were then presented by Frances Finn, from BBC Radio Nottingham, before the day was rounded off by the auction – always a lively event!

We would love to hear what you really enjoyed about the day and any suggestions as to how we can further develop the show in the coming years. Please leave your comments on this blog post, or e-mail us if you’d prefer your thoughts not to be displayed in public.  You can also download our Summer Show 2012 questionnaire and hand it to a committee member once completed.