The bedding out at Tatton park

As I said in yesterdays blog Tatton park is known for its bedding out displays from the town and city's parks department. here are just a few photo's.This was our favorite, penguins and an igloo it got a gold.

This was Robbie Burns, a poem about ploughing a field.

This was a design in recognition to the air rescue from the floods last year, can you see the man on the bridge reaching for the drowning person.

This was a tribute to Wainwright, (the famous walker)the big willow boots were a bit big for the size of the bridge.

The Beatles yellow submarine

Tatton park 23rd July

Last Wednesday the 23rd of July I got the day off work and my friend from Matlock, Lyn and I went to the Tatton Park show near Knutsford. I went to stay with mum and dad on the Tuesday so we could get a good head start on the Wednesday. We got there in good time and the weather was great, things look so much better with a blue sky backdrop. I was determined I wasn't going to buy any plants and was nearly good just one and a tin bird on a long wire which looks very good in the garden. The gardens never are as great as Chelsea and I feel its more like building and garden contractors selling their businesses. One of the officials was saying there was 17thousand people there but it seamed less than previous years. There is never enough seating to have your lunch but there wasn't a problem this year whenever we wanted to have a rest there was always a seat and the gardens were not crowded with people. There are always lots of trade stalls with the latest garden gadgets and sculptures, I would really like to go on a welding course and do some metal work for my garden. There are loads of plant stalls and I think the plant everybody seemed to be buying was a peachy coloured Delphinium.
At lunch time I met up with my friend Judy (my ex teacher) for a chat which was nice. There is always a bedding competition from the parks departments from town and city's and they were all very good i will publish some photo's in another blog in the week.
we were there all day but didn't get to all the trade stalls and left about 5.30 and the traffic was thick but there's nothing you can do so just wait and be patient. It was a long drive back to Matlock then another 50 back home so what with the drive to get Robert I feel as if Iv done nothing but drive the last week, but it was all worth it . I had a great day and ready to do it next year.

This was Chris Beardsure ( I know that not how you spell his name but you know who I mean)garden. It was lovely, and judging by the amount of people admiring it it was the peoples favorite. It won gold and best in show and was far the best.

This was a sculptures garden and it was from a garden centre in Doncaster so I thought it was worth posting, it won a gold if I recall correctly.

A small court yard garden

I really liked this garden but it only got a silver guilt but what do I know. It was designed for a family with tow pools for swimming in, but it was very still I don't know how it would stay clean. The photo above is the larger pool and the other photo has a smaller pool for children but its not very clear. I think maybe some trees to give it some shade would have been better, but leaves fall and if you have a pond its a lot of work keeping it free of leaves. I love to swim and would love a pool, but perhaps it would need to be heated in our climate.

This was a very modern garden would be lovely on a hot day but I would be tempted to jump in the water.

Floral design at Tatton park show

On Wednesday the 23rd of July my friend and I went to Tatton park show near Knutsford the pictures below are just a few I have taken in the floral design exhibits. These exhibits are usually collages around the area showing there talent's and advertising their courses. They were all magnificent the attention to detail was first class.

Robert is home

Things have been hectic since I last wrote. After getting back from seeing Robert last Tuesday I don't know where the time has gone. It was fairly busy at work and in the evenings after watering my garden and Roberts I was done in and tried to get to bed early ready for the trip to fetch Robert which I must say I wasn't really looking forward to.
I managed to leave work at 2 o'clock on Saturday and headed off to get Bob, the first thing I heard on the radio was this weekend there was a suspected 2million extra cars on the roads, people going on holidays and it seamed as if the majority of them were heading north on the A1.
I got there in exactly three hours, parked the car and headed of up the path with Tommy to meet Bob and I did get a bit further this time. The views were spectacular and for a moment envied Robert and what he has seen on his walk, then I remembered the rain, mud, cold sleeping in a tent and caring it and the envy went.
After a happy reunion we had a lovely meal in the pub, and amazingly I drove all the way home the traffic was a lot less and I found myself awake listing to Robert. All the dogs were very pleased to see him and Tom has not left him alone, after two weeks of him being my dog iv not got a look in until i take him out at night. I'm glad Robert came home Saturday he had a rest Sunday and watched his motor racing.

Meeting up with Robert

After what seemed like a long week I set off to meet up with Robert after work on Saturday. It was a good two hours drive but with it being Saturday there wasn't so many big lorries and the traffic was not so bad. I don't know if its because I'm getting older or the terrible amount of traffic or the idiots on the road but I really don't like driving any more. It was good to see him and I can't believe how much weight hes lost in just a week ( its taken me 6 weeks to loose a stone and iv starved) he looked pleased to see me and after a wash, change of clean clothes a chat and more importantly a cup of tea, we went to the pub for supper. The portions were enormous we could not get through it all. we both slept well an woke the next day to dry weather. We spent the day sightseeing and getting Robert bed & breakfast for the rest of the week, which was quite a challenge but I feel better knowing he will have a dry bed for the next part of his walk. Saying that there is no B & B's for the last part of the walk, so hes going to rough it in a cabin Friday night. We visited Hadrian's wall where the Pennine path goes along side it for several miles, and to the sight Vindalanda where the archaeologists are uncovering more about the Roman occupation. It was interesting even though you have to use your imagination to work out of the foundation stones which still remain.

Monday after dropping Robert off to restart his walk I went to the small town of Appleby then on to Middleton in Teesdale. The scenery is so vast and you can see for miles I really enjoyed my self and in the afternoon parked the car at a resivour and had a sleep with the sun shining on me, I was so relaxed I didn't know if I could drive to meet Robert, but I did and put on my boots and started to walk to meet him but I didn't get very far as he came round the first corner. When we got to our B&B the very nice lady said the pub wasn't doing food but she would cook us a meal, very nice it was too.

Today Tuesday, Roberts walk takes him to the B&B so I have come home so I don't have to race to work in the morning. It was drizzling when I dropped him off and tonight he has phoned to say it rained on and off but not to bad.

Life 3, wonderful designs

On Sunday the flower club Future concepts to which I am a member of held a wonderful flower demonstration by life 3 for our tenth anniversary. Life 3 are three great demonstrators Per Benjamin from Sweden, Max van de Sluis from Holland and Tomas De Bruyne from Belgium. All champions in the flower world. Their designs were wonderful full of inspiration and passion. Below are just a few of the great thing they made for us.

wet day again

Not much to report on Roberts walk today. I was out at a fantastic flower event (I will share this with you later in the week)So I only got a message to say the weather had been horrid and where he was camping at Lothersdale it was in a valley so he may not get a signal, Iv not heard from him so I guess he was right.I hope he gets better weather tomorrow.

Goodbye Robert

After an early start we headed for the drop of place for Robert to start his walk, the telegraph station at windy hill. And it lived up to its name, windy. You could have mistaken it was July it was more like November. After Robert got on his boots and warm jacket he changed his cap for his woolly hat. It was to cold to hang about and I had to get to work so with a quick goodbye I headed back down the M62 with the window wipers on double speed, thinking what have I done to Robert, dumped him out of the car in all this weather but I know he will enjoy it despite the rain. It was good to hear from him later having reached his destination safely. When I got home Tom had not eaten his breakfast but I think he is reassured as after a walk he's had his tea and is sat with me, probably relived one of us is home.