My Garden vs The England Football Team
What did you do on Sunday 27 June? Well, if you’re English, German or a fan of football/soccer/the beautiful game etc etc, you probably spent the afternoon watching England crashing out of the World Cup in such a dismal fashion that at 5pm, millions of vuvuzelas emblazoned with the cross of St George were snapped in two by disgruntled fans, a collective sound that could be heard as far away as Soccer City in Johannesburg.
Sadly I was unable to witness such a pathetic last stand in its entirety. Like many other footie loving romantics I had expected England to finish top spot in their group, a position that would have seen them play on Saturday 26 June. However, due to our heroic team’s performance against the might of the USA, Slovenia and Algeria, they ended up finishing second in the group – a spot that meant their game with Germany would take place on the Sunday, a date that would clash with…MY SECOND EVER OPEN DAY FOR THE NATIONAL GARDENS SCHEME!!
Well thank you very much Robert Green, Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey et al – I was expecting hundreds, nay thousands of garden lovers to make the sojourn to East London, but your earlier shennanigans on the pitch meant they stayed away in droves to watch your pitiful kick about with Germany. Perhaps you’d like to donate a fraction of your wages to the National Gardens Scheme to make up for the shortfall that I and others opening their gardens took on the gate?
Good, I’ve got that off my chest. Despite the football, I had a great day. Opening at 11am and closing at 5.30pm, almost 100 people paid £2.50 each to squeeze into my garden, eat cake, buy plants and chin wag. There was also the added attraction of a lovely Japanese film crew, who were spending their second day in the garden collecting material for a documentary about the NGS that will air on the Japanese NHK channel in the autumn. Apart from capturing me sweating, swearing and shouting at the kids before opening the doors to visitors, they caught me acting as a courteous host, welcoming all who crossed the threshold into my house. They also questioned some of those who had paid the entry fee, asking them what they thought of my 30ft by 15ft space.
Japanese film crew at work
My kids being filmed for documentary
Laetitia and Rob strike a pose
Michelle Wheeler aka Garden Girl
Other VIPs to step foot in the garden were Sensei Rod Butler and his wife Lucy. Rod runs Shotokan Karate England – if you didn’t know, my son Louis and I attend a karate club in Walthamstow that belongs to the organisation. After spotting Rod and Lucy at the gate, Louis ran down the garden path to tell me, snapping off a branch from a gorgeous Nicotiana mutablis in his haste. Fortunately, apart from a ceramic pot holding a spider plant being knocked off its perch and cracking in half, this was the only damage I have to report.
Lucy and Sensei Rod
All in all a great, but tiring day. Many thanks to all who came and helped raise over £300 for charity. And many, many thanks to those who helped out -Theresa, Helen, Alis, Liz and Sarah, you are all stars. Oh, and if you fancy seeing some more pictures, especially of all the wonderful cakes baked by Sarah and Liz, head over to Sarah’s blog.
At the same time I was helping at an acquitance’s open garden in Worcester. I did from 11 – 2 and in that time we had 116 visitors, they were staying open until 4 but havent bothered to let me know how they got on (sorry some sore grapes there). They did well on numbers as she belongs to a 100 strong flower arrangers club all of whom seem to come during the course of the morning but her extended family!! Personally I wasnt that impressed with the garden but there you go – the beauty of the NGS, you get all sorts some you like some you dont.
Glad your open day went so well despite the football
I wish I couldve gone…but you can be sure I will be making up for it by flying to Tokyo to watch the documentary.
Your garden was a delight – completely inspiring…i’ve just been looking through my photos and found Elvis and the plastic duck – delightful….but i am most jealous of your nicotiana mutabilis, and the fact that you manage to make somewhere so small, seem so very much bigger than it is…thank you for letting us have sight of it
xLaetitia
I would have loved to have come to nose having a small garden myself but, unlike Rob I was not brave/foolish enough to leave SW London & venture forth. Instead I stayed here & was grumpy. Actually you of course are the brave one by opening.
Oooops……..sorry about the Nicotiana…and…..owwwwww….sorry about the spider plant; promise to make it up. You can have a cutting of my begonia Martyn! Seriously though, we had avery enjoyable time in your wonderful garden. First I heard of the NGS and what a great idea it is. Well done and thank you.
Michelle and I had fun swapping plant labels around, and I managed to take quite a few cuttings without anyone noticing.
So glad it went well Martyn and a pity I wasn’t there. I consoled myself by visiting another NGS garden instead. Bolehyde Manor contrasts v much with your space – in the country, 4 acres and a mere 2 miles from where I live. Just shows what a wide variety of gardens the NGS has to offer.
The owner reckoned he was 100 down on the afternoon becaused of that darned football game.
I’m so sorry I didn’t make it Martyn. I was going to come with Lia, but I was just so knackered. Having read your book, I was dying to see the garden in real life.
BTW: apparently you know my colleague Carl? His son’s at school with your son.
Hello Martyn – so sorry to miss out on your garden. The heat kept me away more than the footie… I’d love to see it some time especially after seeing some great pics of it on another blog – it looks inspirational! See you at Hampton?
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