LATEST UPDATE 8th March 2010

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Last week was our busiest March week ever. This was great news as February had been the quietest since 1997! This cold weather has resulted in an unusually long snowdrop season. The snowdrops are still looking very good but our gut feeling is that it would be better to see them sooner rather than later now.

The other flower that seems to have done phenomenally well in this cold weather has been the Spring Cyclamen, and we have a couple of lovely areas with them planted out and one bank where they have self sown over the years to great effect. We are still however looking for our first daffodil in flower for the year.

The Kitchen is branching out into an ever increasing range of scones. My nose has been battered this morning with Double Choc chip scones and fudge scones. My resistance weakened so I had to eat one for quality reasons, of course. I shouldn't have done as then I wanted another.

I wasn't the only one looking at the snowdrops the other morning. This deer and I spent a happy 5 minutes staring at each other as I tried to focus the camera on its biggest zoom and avoid camera shake. Only partly successful as you can see!	This lovely photo was taken by one of our dedicated volunteers Anne Evans on the 24th Feb. As you can see we have had some blue skies

Found a lovely article written in an American newspaper, the author must have visited last year when we had snow on the ground in Feb. She says

After visiting Rococo Gardens in Painswick, England, one Valentine's Day, the flower I will now associate with this day for lovers is the snowdrop.

As a February visitor, I found acres of the tiny blooming gems filling the horizon as I walked through garden, originally laid out in the early 18th century.

As in previous years we are also running our second hand book sale for the Garden Trust. So any spare books you have and would like to donate will be gratefully received. We have raised nearly 200 already.

We have just added two more walks to our list of circular walks based on the Garden. Check them out here.

2010 Year of Biodiversity

The United Nations declared 2010 the year of biodiversity. All over the world people are celebrating biodiversity and championing the rich irreplaceable natural wealth we have. Current scientific thinking states that the planets rich biodiversity is being lost at an accelerated rate because of human activities. We rely on the biodiversity of the planet for food, fuel, medicines and other essentials.
The International Year of Biodiversity is a unique opportunity to increase understanding of the vital role that biodiversity plays in sustaining life on Earth and here in the garden we are championing the vital role woodland plays in the planets ecosystem.
To this end we will be celebrating the rich biodiversity of the gardens woodlands & nature trail all year, along with placing special emphasis on the role of woodlands during our Rococo Garden Party in August this year.
For further details of other 2010 Year of Biodiversity events click here.