Thankfully Saturday’s scorching temperatures abated somewhat by Sunday morning as the Group arrived with the dog walkers and early day trippers at Shugborough to work in and around the Walled Garden with boss, Caroline and gardener Sarah.
A mix of tasks meant that some wielded the spades and forks to clear another of the beds in the garden around the fruit and currant bushes. Whilst just outside, the others pulled on their wellies and paddled the length of the river Sow stream adjoining the garden to pull out the weeds on both banks and in the masonry. Your reporter can attest to the benefits of the cooling water around the toes and shade offered by the overhanging shrubbery, as the day warmed up!
Highlight of the day was undoubtedly the homemade millionaires shortbread at elevenses, “cake-o-clock” (which disappeared much too fast to be photographed – thanks Caroline!). In fact it was a bit of a bake-off challenge as workday leader Helen’s flapjacks scored highly too.
Lunchtime was an opportunity to hear Caroline explain the latest on the Walled Garden restoration project. Plans are now firming up to repair & repoint all the East Annex walls (and rebuild the potato shed) by Christmas – somewhere the Group has helped to clear and tidy over many years, as some members could recall!
As the sun shone in the afternoon, the lure of the cooling water meant more SSNTV’ers pulled on their wellies. As visitor numbers across the walkways into the Walled Garden and the Plant Shop increased, the group’s activities and growing mounds of green waste became a visitor attraction in their own right – as those in the stream explained what they were doing, visitors watched in bemusement and some group members joined in with pooh-stick races with the younger visitors. Disappointingly no one outside the Group fancied a paddle!
….With apologies to those who wielded the spades…photographers don’t divide as easily as plants!!!…
Shropshire and Staffordshire National Trust Volunteers 