The crowds are incredible, but it’s a pleasure to see them enjoying the garden  (most of the show gardens keep the public out), even though they do have to queue (rather patiently) to get in.

Joe Swift filming in the garden, for the piece which will go out on BBC2 tomorrow evening.  They tell us that the 4 1/2 minutes which they recorded previously has now been extended to 8 minutes!

Our celebrity visitors included Sting (in a bee garden, who else?) and Susan Hampshire. But the highlight was a visit from Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra.
She spent 10 minutes chatting to me and was especially interested in Maggy Howarth’s mosaic. She asked for Maggy’s card before she left and ended with the
words “That was a treat. Utterly charming”.
We also had a visit from an RHS judge, who has just retired after 19 years, who remarked: “Yours is the best garden by a mile”.

Wow! This is as good as we could have expected, but so close to the jackpot.
Later, the Chairman of the Judges gave us a frank appraisal of why we didn’t achieve the magic Gold. He told us what we already knew, that the main failing was the pergola, which was too flimsy in comparison to the other more solid structures. They also didn’t like the fact that it was metal, which they thought might get too hot. They were also critical of the fig tree, which they said didn’t have any relevance to the “bee” theme. The main lesson I have learned is to keep things as simple as possible. Our garden has two themes, bees and sustainability and this gives a confusing message.

A nail-biting half hour when the assessors went round the garden, prior to the judging tomorrow.  Their role is to see if you have kept to the brief- which we have- to the letter.

Rushed back from Hampton Court for filming in my garden in Grange with  Toby Buckland for a Gardener’s World “special” on coastal gardens, which will go out later in the year (or early next).   Toby is just plain nice- down to earth, relaxed and very good at putting you at your ease. Adrian, the sound guy has known him for 15 years and says he hasn’t changed one bit, despite his recent fame.