The Beekeeper's Garden

The Garden is Open…

jonathandenby — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 09:39:11 +0000

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.

BBC Coverage…

jonathandenby — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:36:36 +0000

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!

Press Day

jonathandenby — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:26:02 +0000

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”.

The Results…….

jonathandenby — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:29:25 +0000

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.

Judgement Day….

jonathandenby — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:29:27 +0000

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.

Meanwhile…..

jonathandenby — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:33:18 +0000

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.

Progress Report….

jonathandenby — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:59:37 +0000

At the offices of Cypher, finalising the details of our brochure, the signs and the literature stand.
It’s always a pleasure to visit them as they are, without exception a great bunch of people and they’ve looked after me on the print and web side of things for as long as I can remember. They have designed and hosted this blog, and are doing all our print work for the show free of charge., and when I asked them if the would get any benefit from a little mention in our brochure I was amazed to find that they have lots of customers in London and worldwide- including Google! This is the link to their website- http://www.cypherdigital.co.uk/. I feel quite proud to be their customer.

Progress Report…..

jonathandenby — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:58:20 +0000

Here’s an irony. At a time when my bee-hive sits there folornly, waiting for its first colony of bees, most of my family seemed to have acquired them. After lunch with my mother, who is 90, at her house in Hest Bank, she remarked to me, quite casually- “Come and look at my new bees”- and there in a corner of her paddock were two active bee hives, placed there by a friendly neighbour who doesn’t have room for them in his own garden. And my sister, who lives in Nottingham, has a visiting swarm in her spare bedroom- the local beekeeer’s association are investigating. If only we were so lucky.

Progress Report…..

jonathandenby — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:40:23 +0000

The skeps have arrived. Beautifully made to order by David Chubb- http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/cotswoldbeeskeps/. Our part-time gardener, Norman was completely perplexed by them He thought at first that they might be head-gear, but when he tried one on it was too large. Eventually Margaret persuaded him that they were a handy receptacle to use when weeding and should be worn strapped to one’s back using a purpose made leather strap.

Progress Report….

jonathandenby — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:59:04 +0000

We felt enormous relief to see the Apiary safely installed today as we couldn’t finish the paths or start the planting until it was safely in place. Nicola was very nervous about meeting the deadline, especially as the joiners were very laid back. But I’ve dealt with these guys almost continuously over the last ten years on dozens of projects. I knew that they knew that this was my baby and there was no way they could let me down. So a big thanks to Richard from the Joinery Shop, Phil Shaw, the joiner and Carl Taylor the builder for their very hard work. Phil and his mate Darren left Cumbria at first light, arrived on site at 9.30 and didn’t stop until the job was done at 4.30pm when they set off back to Cumbria.