Our Open Garden Weekend

And welcoming in some space.

Hello my fellow garden lovers, how are you? So we had our open garden last Sunday for the NGS and I’m pleased to say it was a huge success, we had 111 visitors and made a lot of money for charity. It was quite surreal to see that many people (a lot of complete strangers) in our garden, sitting in the chairs I’d carefully put out and lounging on the grass. There was a constant queue along the french shed which we used as a tea room. I’d been baking all day Saturday and naively thought I’d get a slice of my own cake, well that didn’t happen, note to self- put some by. I had a team of amazing volunteers- my parents on the cake stand and also my very dear friend who ran it with smooth efficiency. I thought i’d be serving cake but it was decided that I had to be in the garden with my mr to talk to people.

It was a little odd when five pm rolled around and the garden emptied, left as neat and tidy as it was before we opened the gate- if anything, maybe even a little tidier. Just in the space of three hours i’d got so used to having people around, and here it was, now at peace once more, I turned to my friend who’d been helping at the gate and said- this feels so odd, where are all the people?

We celebrated afterwards with a bottle of English fizz- sat at our table by the greenhouse which only an hour before had been busy with visitors. So, would I do it again- never say never, however, I’m not sure I will whilst the gallery is open. It is a monumental amount of work getting a garden ready for the public. I did feel overwhelmed at times with the sheer scale of the to-do list and managing in a heatwave. When we agreed to open the garden, I didn’t have the gallery. My work dominates my life-in a good way, but it leaves little time for other commitments. However, it was such a joy sharing our garden with others and raising money for charity. My day was made when a lady turned to me and said the cake was the best she’d had at an NGS garden in ages (these things are judged on cake), turns out she didn’t realise I was the garden owner and baker of said cake that she’d just delighted in. I turned to mr C and declared we open a tea garden- he just shook his head. One for when I’m not running the gallery and working then…

And now, well now I feel a little at sea, it’s rather an odd feeling, a little lost I guess. There are still jobs to catch up with and I don’t think I realised how much head space this had taken, and I guess what I’m feeling now is space and not an unwelcome sense of emptiness. My instant reaction to this thought was what can I do now- but I must resist the urge to rush and fill time. I need this time to breathe, to find my peace and put down in words how I’m feeling so I can start to make sense of it all (I do love to journal). Since my birthday last week, I feel like I have reached a Half-way point to the year. As a cancerian - I feel the pull to my home and family even greater at this time of the year. Do you believe in astrology? I definitely do!

As the heatwave continues with our long summer, I, like many of you my dear readers are already looking forward to autumn. I must admit to wondering quite how the season will look as so many of the trees have lost their leaves already, but that aside, I’m looking forward to the slowness autumn brings. I’ve started cleaning in preparation, I washed all the sofa covers and bed throws the other day to be ready for the season of coziness, then caught my eldest daughter resting her spag-bol on one of my clean cushions 🤯 Honestly…

Anyhoo, the pics I’m sharing with you today were taken after everyone had gone, I didn’t feel like I could really take photos of the public, it felt too personal, too intrusive, people had come to enjoy the peace of the garden. I will say again though- the garden was left in immaculate condition and it was lovely to share it and talk to so many people. There were suggestions of opening it for festivals which sent my inner introvert running to the bushes, a nice thought if it was someone else organising it.

I asked the mr last night if we could please try and keep it tidy now- he launches his tools down the garden like a prize winning hurler and pulls weeds up only to throw them on the grass behind him. He has agreed to try, I live in hope.

And now I can go back to peacefully strolling around in the evenings inspecting my plants and taking hundreds of photos. I shall let the space wrap around and try to empty my mind of crazy new ideas for a while. Sometimes it’s good to not think, if you can help it. Sometimes we need to sit with the here and now. I said in my last post how autumn for me is my own personal season of spring- it’s when I feel most inspired and seeds of ideas are sown. I guess I find so much peace in autumn after the rush of summer, my shoulders drop, breathing feels easier and my mind doesn’t feel so rushed. Yes I am wishing summer away, sorry not sorry. I detest the six week holiday with a passion and often try to hide during this time. But if you need me I’ll be either in my garden or upstairs in the studio above the gallery.

Pic above of my father-in-law deep in thought, taken by my mother-in-law. It’s my favourite of the ones I’ve seen of the day. Some of the lovely comments and overheard conversations of the day- A delightful wildness was my favourite as it just about sums us up. It was interesting that a couple of people commented that you could tell it was an artists garden. It has wow factor. It’s so peaceful. Great cake! I didn’t get that many questions about individual plants which did surprise me as there are a number of unusual ones, but I did get lots of questions about the wood at the bottom- honestly, put a private sign up and it becomes an instant magnet. We had to close the wood as the dry summer has meant the river bed is dry and the sides crumbling, and I didn’t really want to lose people down there. I think the most repeated comment was how it felt like a real secret garden. I expected people to come, eat cake, do a quick wander and go- but actually, most people came at two and stayed pretty much for the duration, that was a complete surprise to me. It’s clearly a garden which relaxes people and invites one to linger- I love that.

Right, I’ll be back later in the week to share my dahlias with you and talk about moody photography. Don’t forget, you can follow along with my instagram stories here. And please feel free to ask any questions in the comments- I always reply.

Emma.