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WELCOME TO THE HIGH KELLING GARDEN CLUB'S PAGE!

Our friendly club meets at High Kelling Village Hall on the second Monday of the month during March, April, May, September & October. Join us for refreshments served from 7.00pm, followed by a monthly Guest Speaker and Raffle.

During the months of June, July & August we have a lovely Programme of Summer Group Outings to local Gardens/Nurseries & Attractions. During December/January & February we will meet up during the daytime at varying local venues.
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We extend a warm welcome to everyone. You don’t have to live in High Kelling to join our Club!

Annual Club Membership £12.00 per person (April-March). Visitors welcome to come along to meetings for a cost of £3.00 per person

For more details contact Lesley Rainsford our Club Secretary
phone: 07736 762915
email:  [email protected]


MEETINGS
Evening meetings :   7.00pm tea/coffee & biscuits with Speaker to commence at 7.30pm
Daytime meetings :  2.00pm tea/coffee & biscuits with Speaker to commence at 2.30pm
*AGM Arrival from 6.45pm, AGM to commence at 7.00pm
Monthly Raffle at the end of the meeting

2026 DATES
Monday 11th May              Speaker - Nick Acheson                               7.00pm for 7.30pm start
                                               Subject - 100 years of Norfolk Wildlife Trust

Monday 7th September    Speaker - Simon Harrup                               7.00pm for 7.30pm start
                                               Subject - British Wild Orchids, Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves

Monday 12th October       Speaker - Joe / Laura Carey                         7.00pm for 7.30pm start
                                               Subject - Carey Garden Design Progression

Tuesday 10th November   Speaker - Chris Wright                                  2.00pm for 2.30pm start
                                               Subject - The Gardens of Heligan

Tuesday 8th December      Speaker - Brian Hedge                                  2.00pm for 2.30pm start
                                               Subject - A Flower Arranger's Garden

2027 DATES
January Date : TBC              Coffee Meet Up - Venue & timings to be confirmed
February Date : TBC            Coffee Meet Up - Venue & timings to be confirmed

Monday 8th March              Speaker - Ian Limmer                                    7.00pm for 7.30pm start
                                                Subject - Behind the scenes at Peter Beales Roses

Monday 12th April               AGM meeting                                                    * 7.00pm
                                                Speaker - Kristopher Harper-Allison          7.30pm
                                                Subject - Propagation of Fuchsias

Monday 10th May                Speaker - Andrew Sanky                               7.00pm for 7.30pm start
                                                Subject - Rhubarb and other vegetables


KEEP WATCHING THIS PAGE TO KEEP UP WITH OUR NEWS!

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HK Garden Club Newsletter - April 2025
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​​After our AGM on Monday 14th April, Simon Harrap gave us an enthralling talk on Norfolk’s seaside flowers. Our coastline is smooth but is relatively unspoiled and consists of many different features, from soft cliffs to shingle ridges and sandy beaches.

Perhaps the most hostile habitat for plants is the beach itself, although some, such as Sea Rocket and Salt Wort, will grow above the summer water line. The stems and leaves are waxy to prevent desiccation and flowers are inconspicuous as they are wind-pollinated. Debris washed in by the highest tides forms a nutrient-rich zone, and it’s here that Sea beet will grow – perhaps this should be Norfolk’s County flower as it’s domestication over 3000 years has bred sugar beet, and also beetroot and Swiss chard. The Grass-leaved Orache, which needs a salty environment to survive, has spread away from the coast to winter-salted roadside verges.
Shingle provides an unstable substrate with few nutrients. Shrubby Seablite can withstand burial by shingle during winter storms. The Yellow Horned Poppy survives as a low rosette, drenched by salt spray. The “horn”, its seed pod, is the longest of any British plant.
Grassy vegetation makes sand dunes more stable than the beach, so they support a wider variety of flowers, including orchids and Sea Holly, which became scarce in Norfolk in the 19th century as its roots were boiled with sugar to make sweets in Great Yarmouth.
Saltmarsh is created by plants holding onto tidal mud. Samphire, much loved by trendy restaurants, is also known as Glasswort as its ash was once used in glassmaking. An annual, its tiny self-pollinating flowers are hidden behind its fleshy leaves, releasing millions of seeds which float on seawater.
Next time I walk along the coast, I shall seek out and marvel at these hardiest of survivors.

​HK Garden Club Newsletter - March 2025

​On Monday 10th March, we resumed our evening meetings at High Kelling Village Hall. Rosemary Ward gave us a fascinating illustrated guide to interesting and unusual plants for the garden and conservatory, some of which can be found at specialist nurseries rather than garden centres. Her suggestions covered trees, shrubs, climbers and herbaceous perennials, definitely something for everyone! Many plants she described had either unusually shaped or coloured foliage or interesting fragrance and were generally no more difficult to grow than the mass-produced common varieties we see everywhere.
We have two more evening meetings in the hall, on 14th April and 12th May, then move on to our summer programme of monthly outings to Norfolk gardens, where we have a private tour and refreshments, essential to any memorable garden visit! Our evening talks resume again in September.
If you would like to join our vibrant club, new members are always welcome. Our talks not only cover garden plants and their origins and cultivation, but the animals we might encounter there, environmental care and gardens near and far, so there is something for anyone interested in the natural world around them. Contact Tanya [email protected] or phone 07825 578321


Here is a picture of a Judas Tree (Cercis siliquastrum). Slow growing, it is ideal for smaller gardens and has pea-like pink flowers in May, growing directly out of the bare stems, followed by beautiful autumn foliage.​

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​​​HK Garden Club Newsletter - April 2024

After our AGM on Monday 8th April, Dr. Ian Bedford gave us another fascinating talk on Butterflies and Moths in the Garden.

Butterflies and moths not only improve the environment but also indicate the health of an ecosystem. Belonging to the Order Lepidoptera (scaled wings), they evolved from aquatic caddis flies 200 million years ago. The split into butterflies and moths has no real scientific basis, but butterflies tend to be more brightly coloured, rest with their wings brought together vertically, have clubbed antennae and are day flying.

​Most moths are duller and nocturnal, they hold their wings either flat or roof-wise over their bodies and often have feathered antennae, especially the males, who detect the scent (pheromones) of the females with them. Butterflies, however, can see polarised and ultraviolet light and will flash their wings to attract a female.

In early spring, we first notice the pale-yellow Brimstone butterfly, which overwinters in ivy, then the Orange Tip, whose caterpillars feed on garlic mustard, and the Holly Blue. Commas, Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells will be emerging from overwintering as adults, often in sheds and, more recently, Red Admirals overwinter here too, rather than returning to warmer Europe. All these butterflies depend on plenty of spring flowers to refuel on sugar rich nectar.

A little later we see the grass meadow butterflies, the Browns, Ringlets, Coppers and Skippers, whose pupae overwinter in long grass. If you have a wildflower meadow, cut it with a scythe rather than a mower in late summer, leaving a small area standing all winter if possible so the caterpillars can migrate to it.

In summer we can see migratory species such as the Painted Lady, which flies to us from North Africa, then heads towards the arctic, rising up to 2000ft to pick up winds that will blow it back to Africa.
Butterflies and moths have declined by up to 60% in recent years, largely due to the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Although seed treatment was banned in agriculture in 2018, residues can last in the soil for 10 years and 70% of plants sold in Garden Centres are still treated – ask, as suppliers should be aware. Even better to grow your own from saved seed or swap cuttings and offshoots with friends, as we do at our club! 

The photographs below show the Holly Blue butterfly on forget-me-nots and a Brimstone butterfly on Dwarf Cherry.

​​HK Garden Club Newsletter - March 2024

​On Monday 11th March Sarah Hammond talked to us about English peonies, which she grows sustainably on her farm at Knapton. The first peonies were grown on the farm 50 years ago by horticulturalist Betty Hammond, on a field that was unfit for other crops. They are sold directly from the farm or delivered to customers and local businesses.

Named after Paeon, the physician to the Greek gods, the bark and roots of the peony are still used in traditional medicine. There are three types of peonies – the herbaceous peonies, that die completely back in the autumn, the tree peonies, tall shrubs that maintain a framework of stiff branches all year round, and the recent, but still expensive, intersectional peonies, a cross between the two, which resemble herbaceous peonies but their stouter stems don’t require staking.

Peonies are native to mountainous regions in southern Europe, Asia and western North America, so are tolerant of the cold and poor soil. They thrive in an open, sunny site, where good air flow prevents Botrytis wilt. Contrary to the common myth, they CAN be transplanted and are best planted in the autumn, when the tubers will grow a good system of peripheral roots over winter. The crown should be no more than 2 inches below the soil surface, and shouldn’t be mulched, although the plants will appreciate a feed of liquid seaweed or tomato food in the spring. They will flower from mid-May until July, depending on variety. If cutting flowers, choose buds at the “marshmallow” stage, which feel slightly spongy, leaving a third of the stem behind to regenerate, and plunge the cut stems into water immediately then place them in the cool and dark for several hours. In the autumn, the bronzing foliage can also be used in floral arrangements but remove all the dead foliage from the plant before winter to reduce disease.

The most popular herbaceous varieties are pink Sarah Bernhardt and the very fragrant white Duchesse de Nemours. It’s best to buy from a reputable breeder such as Kelways or Claire Austin as a good plant will last you decades. 
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Think you might like to join us? Contact Tanya [email protected] or phone 07825 578321

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​HK Garden Club Newsletter - October 2023

​On 9th October, Eddie Andersen and Mark Allbrook from Cromer Green Spaces came to talk to our club about their organisation. Their motto is, “Making room for nature in our seaside town” and their aim is to manage existing green spaces within the town for the benefit of wild plants and animals. 

Prior to its rapid development as a seaside resort after the arrival of the railway in the 1880s, the land on which much of Cromer now stands was poor for agriculture but had remained unchanged for centuries. Therefore, the ground is full of residual wildflower seeds, which will flourish if the green areas are less manicured and the grass is not mown.

​North Norfolk District Council and local environmental organisations are supporting the initiative to make the town more wildlife friendly. The Fellbeck Trust helped to transform areas of North Lodge Park into wildflower meadows. Volunteers scythe the meadows in late summer and rake away the hay to reduce soil fertility, thereby encouraging more wild species. 

The Meadow next to the main carpark in the centre of town is currently being transformed. A watercourse, that runs from East Wood on the Cromer Hall Estate before disappearing underground by the play area, has been partially dammed to create a lush wet area attractive to insects and amphibians. NNDC is suspending its mowing regime to allow grasses to grow and wild flowers to self-propagate. 
There are already encouraging signs of increased biodiversity – bee orchids have been found in Halsey House gardens and by Cromer Zoo and Vipers Bugloss is growing on the Norwich Road verges.

We have a varied programme of speakers and events throughout the year. Update for our November Meeting:
Tuesday 7th November at 2.30pm in the Village Hall, rather than on the Monday evening. Joe Carey will be talking about his award winning Chelsea garden. Non-members are also welcome at £3.
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​For more details contact Tanya, email [email protected] or 07825 578321 

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HK Garden Club Newsletter - September 2023

At our first evening meeting of the autumn season, Jane Steward of East Gate Larder gave us a fascinating talk about medlars, their history, how to grow them and how to eat them. She holds the National Collection of medlar trees at her orchard near Aylsham.

Medlars are Britain’s forgotten fruit. They are native to the area between the Black and Caspian Sea and are still very much part of Turkish culinary culture. Nobody is sure when they came to Britain but two medlar stones were found in a drain at the Roman Silchester fort in Hampshire. In the Middle Ages, the monks of Westminster Abbey grew medlars and Henry VIII popularised the fruit at his banquets. However, Shakespeare refers to the fruit in vulgar innuendos and, although the Victorians still used the medlar as a winter fruit, it does not lend itself to large scale commercial production and distribution to supermarkets so it has all but disappeared from our diets in modern times.

Certainly, the medlar is an oddity. Its very hard, inedible brown fruits which, according to folklore, resemble a “dog's-arse”, are ready to be harvested in early November but must be left for several weeks to soften and ripen, by which time the flesh has turned dark brown and tastes and feels like thick apple sauce, with notes of citrus and cinnamon. They are packed with essential vitamins and minerals and can be eaten as a table fruit (discard the leathery outer coat and the large arsenic-containing pips) but also as delicious medlar jelly, made by Jane and often available at Star Plain Stores in Holt.

Medlars belong to the rose family and make bushy trees with interesting, contorted branches, whitish blossom in May and beautiful autumnal leaf colour. They are relatively pest free and, if grown on a dwarfing quince rootstock, would be suitable for a large pot. They are not too fussy about soil and can tolerate temperature extremes but prefer a sunny, sheltered position.

Interested in joining our club? Contact Tanya [email protected] or 07825 578321

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​HK Garden Club Newsletter - March 2023

​On Monday 13th March, Pauline Harper talked to us about growing vegetables in containers or on a small plot. Pauline was encouraged to grow vegetables as a young child by her father and she now passes on that enthusiasm to nursery schools.

Modern gardens are generally small so one has to be imaginative and inventive to squeeze in vegetables, which will be fresher, tastier, seasonal, less contaminated with pesticides and have a much lower carbon footprint than supermarket vegetables. We import more than 40% of our vegetables and over 50% are wasted. Sowing small batches of crops in succession means that we can always have them ready to pick throughout the season, rather than a wasteful glut.

Many vegetables have attractive leaves or flowers so can be planted within an ornamental border. The smallest space can grow vegetables in pots or hanging baskets, troughs or raised beds, even on a sunny windowsill - cress, salad leaves and pea shoots (use dried marrowfat peas as they are much cheaper than commercial pea seeds) are very quick to grow and require very little soil. If planting in pots, it’s generally best to grow one type of vegetable per pot, although tomatoes and basil mix well together. Line plastic containers with newspaper and terracotta pots with polythene to reduce root burn and conserve water. Ensure there is at least an inch of space at the top of the pot to generously water the plants, checking them daily and feeding weekly with liquid fertiliser once they are established. 
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Few members already grow vegetables but, after our stimulating talk and the free seeds and catalogues Pauline provided, I’m sure more of us will have a go. Bon Appetit!

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HK Garden Club Newsletter - February 2023

On Monday 13th April, Julia Stafford-Allen talked to our club about the history of garden tourism and the National Garden Scheme.

From Tudor times, the nobility created gardens to encourage a visit by the monarch. Over the next two centuries, visiting large gardens both at home and abroad became more popular and, in 1744, the first garden guidebook was published, with 22 editions. Garden visitors were not always well behaved, stealing souvenirs and leaving graffiti! The railways increased garden tourism, but few private gardens were open to the public.

In 1859, wealthy Liverpool merchant William Rathbone employed a nurse to look after his ailing wife at home. When she died, he paid for the nurse to care for the poor in his neighbourhood and went on to raise funds for community nursing in other deprived areas. Patronised by Queen Victoria and, later, by Queen Alexandra, this developed into the Queens Nursing Institute, a voluntary organisation setting standards and training and supporting nurses.

n 1927, QNI council member, Elsie Wagg, came up with the idea of people opening their gardens to raise funds for the charity, charging visitors a shilling, under a National Garden Scheme. In the first year, 609 gardens opened, including Sandringham, raising £8,000. Last year, 3,500 gardens opened, donating over £3 million to nursing and caring charities. After the war, the first annual “Yellow Book” was published and the NGS became independent in 1980.
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Our club is planning a programme of garden visits throughout the summer in addition to our evening talks during the autumn and spring. New members are always welcome (not only High Kelling residents). Please contact Tanya - details at top of this page.

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​HK Garden Club Newsletter - January 2023

​On Monday 9th January, Dr. Ian Bedford gave us a thought-provoking talk, “Companion Planting for a Balanced Garden”. Species rich wild habitats, with little human interference, will reach a state of equilibrium as many food chains are formed, starting with a plant, which is eaten by a herbivore, which is then eaten by a carnivore, which is then eaten by another larger carnivore etc., and these chains will interact to form complex food webs. Removing just one link in a chain can affect the whole ecosystem.

However, as gardeners, we don’t want our gardens running totally wild, so we have to think about making them as species diverse as possible while keeping them aesthetically pleasing. If a garden is going to achieve a balance, we cannot afford to totally eradicate any species and this means learning to tolerate a small level of damage or untidiness. Bear in mind that the 23 million gardens in the UK cover a greater area than all our nature reserves and yet, in the last 70 years, we have lost over 50% of our native species, more than any other developed nation.

“Companion planting” is the practice of planting two or more plants together for mutual benefit. This could result in controlling or deterring pests, attracting pollinators and therefore increasing yields.

There have been many publications recommending specific plant combinations, e.g., Alliums (onion family) to control pests in cabbage crops, but these cannot be scientifically tested and endorsed as there are far too many variables to consider - temperature, moisture, shade, soil type and fertility and varieties selected to name but a few! Far better to research the literature, pick a couple of combinations you think might suit you and give them a try. Keep your trial areas small and mix the plants together rather than plant them in rows.

The time to plan is during the winter as there is little point introducing a companion plant once the other is established and facing difficulties. Observe your trial patch closely - there is always the chance your companion plant may attract a new pest! But, before you give up and reach for the pesticide sprays, remember that these will also affect your beneficial invertebrates, including the millions you can’t see in the soil. Building a balanced ecosystem takes time and patience, so reach for a cup of tea instead!

​The diagram below shows a typical garden food web. 
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Dr. Ian Bedford was chief entomologist at the John Innes Institute in Norwich and now contributes to The Garden Party on Radio Norfolk, Saturdays between 12-2pm.

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HK Garden Club Newsletter - December 2022

On the bitterly cold evening of Monday 12th December, our club held its Christmas Social. Instead of our traditional meal together, Kate and Tom of Coffee Club Norfolk parked their decorated horse box outside the Village Hall and we had a festive assortment of hot drinks, delicious cakes and hot pastries to take indoors while we listened to a medley of songs from the duo Peddars Way and stretched our minds with three table quizzes. As always, our members generously donated prizes for a bumper raffle. Although attendance was smaller than anticipated due to the weather, everybody had a joyous evening.
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We are always open to suggestions on how the club can move forward, so we hope that 2023 will be even better with some new ideas and events. If you would like to join our club, please contact Tanya at [email protected] or phone 07825 578321, or come along to our next meeting at High Kelling Village Hall from 7pm on Monday 9th January. Our speaker will be Dr. Ian Bedford on “Companion Planting in the Garden”. A Merry Christmas and a Happy 2023 to everyone.

HK Garden Club Newsletter - November 2022

On Monday 14th November, Peter Skeggs-Gooch from Thorncroft Clematis gave us a lively talk on the different varieties that will provide flowers all year round, from evergreen armandii and cirrhosa varieties in winter, the Atragene group (formally known as alpina/ macropetala/koreana/chinensis) and montana in spring, the early and midsummer large flowered varieties, through to viticella and tangutica species in the autumn. There are also non-climbing herbaceous varieties which will scramble through flower borders and smaller varieties suitable for containers. Most prefer their flowers in the sun, but ‘Nelly Moser’ (white/pink), ‘John Huxtable’(white), ‘Prince Charles’ (blue) and ‘Comtesse de Bouchard’ (deep pink) thrive in shade.

When planting, dig a good-sized deep hole about 12” from a supporting wall or fence, break up the soil at the bottom and incorporate well-rotted manure or compost, then add another layer of soil with bonemeal. If your soil is heavy, put gravel or stones at the very bottom to aid drainage as clematis hate soggy soil (especially important for containers, which must be raised off the ground). Tease out the lower roots of the new plant and make sure the root ball is 3” below the surface before refilling the hole. If your clematis is in a hot position, mulch with bark chippings to provide shade and retain moisture.

Although clematis wilt can cause plants to die back, the biggest cause of failure is the brittle stems not being supported well enough at the base, so that they split in the wind.

Most winter and spring clematis simply require tidying to a neat framework after flowering, as their flowers are produced from woody stems but, if they flower after June, take off the top third around Valentine’s Day then prune again to leave two pairs of shooting buds on each stem in early March. When you plant a bushy new clematis, although it seems a travesty, it’s best to reduce its height in this way, otherwise the newly forming roots can’t support the lush top growth.

Our garden club isn’t just for the residents of High Kelling - all are welcome!
​For details contact Tanya at [email protected] or phone 07825 578321.

Clematis texensis "Princess Diana" with rose "Minnehaha"

Clematis viticella "Polish Spirit" (purple)

​Clematis montana 

HK Garden Club Newsletter - October 2022

At our October meeting, garden designer Andrew Sankey gave us a lively and informative talk about the history of Kew Gardens over the centuries. Originally, Edward 1 had a royal manor on the site, which developed as two separate royal estates of Richmond and Kew until 1771, when George 111 finally pulled them together. Each successive owner used the estates for different purposes, building then tearing down various palaces and follies. After accompanying Cook on his first exploration of Australia and New Zealand, botanist and socialite Joseph Banks became close to the king and, over the next 50 years, introduced 7000 exotic plants (and some exotic animals, like the kangaroo) to the gardens, making it the greatest botanical exchange facility in the world.

​However, George 1V had no interest in the gardens and they were neglected for nearly twenty years until William Hooker, a protege of Banks and anxious to save the collection, asked to become head gardener. Several generations of the Hooker family subsequently ensured their continued botanical success, introducing glasshouses and popularising the 300acre gardens, which could be visited for a penny.
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Sadly, High Kelling Garden Club’s treasurer is moving away shortly, and we are having some difficulty replacing him. If you are happy with simple bookkeeping and could help us with this reasonably easy task, for an hour or so each month, please contact [email protected].

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HK Garden Club Newsletter - March 2022

On Monday 14th March, Julia Dovey, a garden volunteer at Felbrigg, came to talk to us about the work volunteers do there and some recent changes to the garden.

Winter can be a very busy time in the 4.5 acre walled garden and the 4.5 acre woodland garden at the back of the hall. Routine pruning is done and the double borders are mulched with a thick layer of garden compost. As not enough is produced to treat the whole garden, the vegetable beds receive mushroom compost - containing lime, it is better suited to growing vegetables. The gardens follow a no dig system, relying on soil organisms to pull the mulch into the sandy soil below.

Moving towards spring, volunteers sow and pot on herbaceous and bedding plants and sow vegetables both indoors and directly into the ground. Rows must be straight and supporting canes all the same height! Succession planting throughout the season means the beds and borders always look full. Bulbs and flowers are also grown for floral displays for the hall. In very dry weather, the borders are watered. Traditionally, this would have been from the central dipping pond, fed by rainwater from the glasshouse roofs.

Winter is also a time when new projects get underway. This winter, the gravel borders in the south lawn area have been widened to accommodate more exotics and, much to the relief of the volunteers, the new plants will be labelled. Once the bantam hens can be released from their bird flu lockdown, they will move into a new hen house in the walled garden - an exact miniature of the dovecote, made by one of the volunteers. Whatever your capabilities, there is always a job you can do as a garden volunteer.
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Our next meeting is on Monday 11th April – refreshments from 6.45pm (bring your own mug), the AGM at 7.15pm, then a presentation of members’ garden photos.

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HK Garden Club Newsletter - February 2022

At our meeting on 14th February, Paul Laurie entertained us and informed us about the many birds that inhabit our gardens, and their habits and requirements. He accompanied his talk with wonderful photographs – taken by himself – and many anecdotes about his vast experience of wildlife watching, which has taken him all over the world.
 
The blackbirds, robins, chaffinches we see in our gardens in winter are most probably migrants from colder areas, our summer residents having also moved on - this is known as displacement migration. However, the visiting fieldfares and redwings we only see in the winter are classic migrants. With changing farming practices, chaffinches have moved from farmland into gardens and many other birds become reliant on the food we put out to get them through the winter. Nuthatches and coal tits will store fat and nuts by pushing them into bark crevices. Owls like to be near human habitation because they are more likely to find mice, their major food.
 
The most common land bird is the diminutive wren, whose main food is spiders, 200 of which may be found in half a square metre!  Many birds use spider silk for their nests, so spiders are essential in our gardens.

Paul also described some of the butterflies and moths we are more likely to see these days, such as the Silver Washed Fritillary, the White Admiral and the Hummingbird Hawk Moth.
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Our next meeting is on Monday 14th March, when we have a change of speaker - Julia Dovey - who will talk about being a volunteer at Felbrigg and garden redevelopment plans. For further information, contact Tanya at [email protected] or 01263 713974. New members and visitors are always welcome.

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HK Garden Club Newsletter - March 2020

On 9th March, Simon Dodsworth talked about the life and work of his father, Bryan. Having played a vital role in Normandy in 1944, he was determined to create something beautiful and, after a career with Raleigh (cycles), spent the rest of his life hybridising bearded irises.

His initial  material came from the States but Bryan wanted to move away from the bright, blousy, top-heavy varieties favoured by the Americans and produce irises that could withstand the British weather. He selected for perfect form so that the stem and the flower, with its 3 standard upright petals and 3 falling petals, were in proportion. He also bred for perfect branching, three discreet blooms spaced evenly down each stem. He preferred single to gaudy bi-colours, but found muted shaded tones or plicatas (stitching of a different colour around the petal edges) acceptable. From 50,000 seedlings he registered 55 varieties. Of these, twelve were awarded the Dykes Medal, the highest accolade of the iris world, eight more than any other breeder had achieved!


​Bryan died in 2009 but Simon rescued many of his un-named seedlings, brought them to Norfolk and continues his work through the English Iris Company.
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Irises need very well-drained soil and a sunny aspect to bake the rhizomes, which should only be half buried, otherwise they won’t flower the following year. Nitrogen rots the rhizomes so use only bonemeal or seaweed to feed them. Plants can be rejuvenated by removing about half the rhizomes annually, rather than lifting and dividing every five years. I shall try mine (Sherwood Pink) in a shallow pot rather than lose it among my flower borders and look forward to its first bloom next year. 

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HK Garden Club Newsletter - February 2020

On 10th February Tina Hammond , Head Gardener at Felbrigg Hall, talked about the garden's history and how it has developed in the 20 years she has been there.

Before the eighteenth century, the Windham family ran the estate to optimise agriculture and forestry. Apart from a small formal area around the Hall, the garden was utilitarian, producing food for the family. The European influence during the 1700’s and an association with the landscape gardener Humphrey Repton and the botanist Sir Joseph Banks resulted in a massive natural landscaping project, which launched Repton’s career. When seed merchant John Ketton acquired the estate in the nineteenth century, he bought many newly introduced camellias and rhododendrons and created pleasure walks of light and dark contrasts, probably enhanced by the widespread use of opiates at that time! Ketton also experimented with exotic ornamentals in the walled garden, where they wouldn’t impact on the landscape.

By the 1970’s, the walled garden mainly contained low maintenance and drought tolerant plants typical of most municipal areas. However, Tina follows Ketton’s example of experimentation and has broadened borders and planted them with annuals and many perennials that were thought too tender to survive here but have thrived. Where elderly fruit trees are removed, she cannot replace them because of rose replant disease (most belong to the Rose family). Her latest project is a grove of cob nut trees instead, which are to be interspersed with birches and maples with decorative bark so that the nut trees are shaded from sun scorch. Sounds exciting! 
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Interested in joining our Club? Contact Tanya [email protected]

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HK Garden Club Newsletter - January 2020 

On 13th January Dr. Ian Bedford, who was Head of Entomology at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, gave us a thought provoking talk entitled “Garden Bugs - Cohabit, Conserve or Control?".

We all live surrounded by  a variety of “bugs” (invertebrates) although many are too small to be seen without a microscope. They are highly successful, making up 97% of the Earth’s animal species, and some have changed little since they left the sea for land 400 million years ago. Bugs are vital for sustaining ecosystems. Herbivorous bugs can be divided into chewers such as caterpillars, suckers including aphids and whitefly, and root feeders like vine weevil larvae.

Plant eaters are often seen as the gardener’s enemy but they in turn provide food for other animals, including predatory beetles and wasps (chompers), spiders and predatory bugs (blood suckers) and parasitising insects. If left alone, a complex food cycle  will develop which naturally reduces pest numbers. Life would be impossible without the pollinators - bees of all kinds, hoverflies, butterflies and beetles, and the composters - worms, woodlice and many slugs.

However, if we feel we must intervene, physical control is the best option, either barriers to keep out the pest or vigilance and removing individuals as they appear. Chemical control is best avoided by gardeners as it will not discriminate between pests and beneficial bugs. Residues can last a long time in the environment.
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The Spanish Slug (see photograph above) has arrived in gardens recently. They can be 6 inches long, are extremely slimy, will eat other slugs and snails and usually appear in their hundreds rather than singly. In the past I have chopped them with my trowel (while thinking of a bully I once worked for) but this exposes parasites that can infect pets, so I shall restrain myself to a bucket of soapy water in future. And leave most other species to find their equilibrium.

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HK Garden Club December Newsletter

On Monday 9th December our club held its Christmas Dinner at High Kelling Village Hall. The evening started with a glass of Bucks Fizz or fruit juice. Christine Foxwell and her team provided us with delicious festive food - Christmas Pie or nut roast served with celeriac mash, sprouts, green beans, peas and carrots. For dessert we could either have fresh fruit salad, cheese and biscuits or individual Christmas trifle, which had a shortbread base, a layer of dried soaked fruits and was topped with custard, cream and crunchy sprinkles - gorgeous! For those who still had room there were mince pies, chocolate mints and Turkish delight to accompany tea or coffee.

During the evening, harpist Alan Heath entertained us with a variety of songs, including ballads from his native southern states of America. Our Christmas raffle was a bumper one thanks to the generosity of members.
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Our next meeting is on Monday 10th January when Ian Bedford will speak about bugs in the garden. Guests and new members are always welcome. For details of our club please contact Tanya at [email protected]

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HK Garden Club November Newsletter

On 11th November, Simon Harrap from Natural Surroundings gave a presentation about the wild flowers of Norfolk. Some outsiders perceive East Anglia to be homogenous and flat but we have twelve distinct natural areas with very different soils and, consequently, very different flora. Perhaps our most famous area, the Broads, is relatively poor for wild aquatic flowers as boat traffic disturbs the vegetation and the water is too polluted with phosphates and nitrates running off the land. The best places to look are spring fed ditches separated from rivers.

Most of East Anglian fenland has been drained for agriculture over the centuries but marshy areas are still rich in wild flowers. Our Norfolk Reed, cut for long lasting thatch,  can be found worldwide known by other names but, in the UK, the sole food of the British swallowtail butterfly larvae (see photo), Milk Parsley, only grows in our fens. 


Breckland is botanically unique because its very thin, dry sands over chalk do not hold heat so nights are always cold. Its flora resembles that of eastern Austria! Several of Britain’s rarest plants can only be found here. Plants that grow in our heathland and boggy mires are usually to be found in the wet, northwestern corner of Britain. Our coastal  landscape consists of soft cliffs, shingle beaches and some of the best saltmarsh in Europe and would have been similar 5000 years ago. Plants here are tough survivors.

As always, Simon’s talk was richly illustrated with examples of fascinating plants. The next time somebody remarks that we have no mountains, I’ll be able to hold my own!

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HK Garden Club October Newsletter

On 14th October, fuchsia specialist Kristopher Harper talked about James Lye who, in Victorian times, was responsible for producing many new fuchsia varieties. As head gardener for the granddaughter of the Earl of Radnor at Clyffe Hall in Wiltshire, he was keen to establish his reputation at the local flower shows and grew huge pyramidal plants for exhibition. Soon his work reached a wider following through the garden magazines of the time, who published lavish colour plates of his latest varieties, which he then sent mail order to enthusiasts at £5 per plant! Many varieties were named after his family or those of his employers. Amy Lye is particularly beautiful, with long stems, white tubes and sepals and a long, deep pink corolla.

Kristopher then gave us a demonstration of how to plant and care for fuchsias. They originate from the Americas and New Zealand. Many are half hardy, but survive well outside in light soils. Plants should be only lightly trimmed in autumn but can be cut hard back in spring to encourage new shoots. This is the best time to take cuttings.

The petals are edible and will liven up salads but you can also eat the berries and gather them for fuchsia gin or jam, although you would need to grow an awful lot of fuchsias to make a pan full!

​The picture is an engraving of James Lye and his fantastic fuchsias.

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HK Garden Club September Newsletter

​At our first meeting of this season on  9th September, our programmed speaker couldn’t come so Kathy Gray kindly stepped in to talk about the diversity of British gardens. At Borde Hill in West Sussex, the 200 acre garden includes parkland planted with specimen trees, woodland and herbaceous gardens. The Clarke family, who bought the estate in 1893, were patrons of some of the greatest plant hunters so their garden includes many exotic plants, including a number of “champion” trees (the tallest or widest recorded).

Next we visited the Winter Garden at Cambridge Botanical gardens. Plants were selected for their interesting textured bark or colourful stems, or winter flowers with exquisite scent. Trees and shrubs were underplanted with early bulbs, hellebores and bergenias.

​The gardens at Wollerton Old Hall in Shropshire have been developed since 1983. Tall hedges divide the space into a  grid of rooms, each planted to create a different mood. Yew pyramids, box balls and large pots add to the formality of some areas, whereas others are softly planted.

Our last stop was Logan Botanical Gardens on the Galloway peninsular in Scotland. Here the Gulf Stream and a wide shelter belt protecting against salty winds allow southern hemisphere plants such as tree ferns to flourish.
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Kathy also talked briefly about Plant Heritage, a society devoted to the conservation of garden plants. The growth of garden centres since the 1970s, which sell a narrow range of popular, easy to produce and grow plants, has fuelled the decline of many old species and varieties. Members grow national collections of a particular plant so different bloodlines are preserved for future breeding and medical use.

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HK Garden Club August Newsletter

The High Kelling Garden Club was fortunate with the weather for their recent coach trip to the gardens at Raveningham Hall, close to Beccles. Thirty of the club's members made the trip and all agreed it had been a very special day.
The Raveningham Estate was acquired by the Bacon family in 1735 and the present owner, Sir Nicholas Bacon, came into the tearoom to welcome our members. Garden Club chairman Valerie Ross had made the arrangements for the day, liaising with Sir Nicholas's personal assistant Sonia Roebuck, who told us in some detail about the history of Raveningham and indicated areas of special interest.

The gardens, which cover 10 acres, were much improved by Lady Priscilla Bacon, who brought the walled kitchen garden back to working order, once again producing vegetables, salads and fruit for the house.

​There is a profusion of flowers all around the house and the gardens, with snowdrops, spring bulbs and roses early in the year. At present there is a wonderful collection of very tall agapanthus, both blue and white, and members could buy whichever ones they wanted to take home.
Halfway through our visit all our members went back to the tearoom to sit down together for an excellent lunch. Some members had walked alongside the large lake to see the arboretum, close to which there is a stumpery with tree ferns. Other members went to visit the estate church of St Andrew, which dates from about 1350.

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HK Garden Club May Newsletter

At our last meeting of the season on 13th May, our guest speaker Rosemary Ward led us on a pictorial tour around the ruins of southern France and showed us some of the plants associated with each. We started at the Popes’ Palace in Avignon, which became the centre for western Christianity in the fourteenth century after unrest in Rome. The ancient fortified town was established by the Celts but influenced by the invading Greeks then the Romans, like many of the ruins we saw. When Rosemary visited the town the Judas trees and several Cistus sun roses were in full bloom.

Around the Roman theatre of Orange and the aqueduct of Pont du Gard, wild rosemary and lavenders and dwarf Iris lutescens clothed the hillsides. South of Perpignan, bougainvilleas and oleanders became more common and perennial Morning Glory, similar to our annual purple variety, adorned the ancient walls.  

Rosemary also visited the famous Bambouseraie  in Languedoc, which showcases many varieties of bamboo and its use around the world. Bamboo looks at its best if you remove old canes to be able to see through the individual newer stems coloured black, green or gold. Throughout the talk, Rosemary indicated which of the plants she showed might be tolerant of our Norfolk climate.
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Our autumn season begins with a talk by Charlotte Philcox entitled, "Florists, Fairies and Flowerpots" on Monday 9th September 2019.

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HK Garden Club April Newsletter

​We held our Annual General Meeting on Monday 8th April, which was well attended. It has been a successful year with very interesting talks, a super Club outing to Bressingham and quite a few new members joining us. Sadly, Gillian Clarke and Tricia Frost are retiring from the Committee after serving for several years but, thankfully, Jean Jacob and John Green are willing to replace them. Tricia and Gillian received plants in appreciation of their service and bouquets were presented to Janet Hebburn, Beryl Noel and Ann Alborough, who provide us with refreshments at the start of each meeting. 

The members voted to increase the annual subscription from £10 to £12, which will be due at next month’s meeting.  This still offers very good value as we have 8 illustrated talks each year and discount at 4 local plant suppliers, plus a Christmas social and at least one Club outing. As well as our successful raffle, next month we are trialling a bring and buy plant stall.

After the AGM, Rosie Gutteridge presented a slideshow of photos submitted by members, titled, “Our Favourite Things in the Garden”. It’s the first time we have tried this and, after a technical glitch, was well received by the members.  

If you would like to join our Club, come along to our next meeting on 13th May at High Kelling Village Hall at 7pm or contact Tanya at [email protected]

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HK Garden Club March Newsletter

At our March meeting, we enjoyed a very interesting talk about hedgehogs by Jan Smith of the RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Centre, who care not only for hedgehogs, but also all sorts of animals and birds in distress. They often have to find new homes for hedgehogs and Jan explained that the young animals are usually happy wherever they are taken, but the older hedgehogs have to be taken back as closely as possible to their familiar environment.

Litters of around five are born in the spring, each weighing only 7 to 19 grams. After eight weeks eating slugs, snails and worms, they weigh 350 grams and are independent. A fully grown hedgehog weighs about 600 grams and needs to eat 200 grams of food each day, sometimes travelling half a mile in a night to find it. They are very much nocturnal animals and in the winter they hibernate, usually from November to March.

Life has become difficult for hedgehogs in recent years and it is estimated that,  in this country, only about 750,000 remain. In the countryside they need hedges and woodland (but not conifers). Solid garden boundaries restrict their foraging. Ponds and drains are a hazard for them, as are bonfires and strimming.

If you do find one in your garden, don't feed them with bread or milk, which are not good for them, but offer meaty dog or cat food  (no fish). If you want to pick up a hedgehog, be sure to wear stout gardening gloves!

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HK Garden Club February Newsletter

​On 11th February, Richard Hobbs gave us a fascinating talk about snowdrops. These much loved first signs of spring are not native but from southern Europe. There are a number of species and about 2000 named cultivars which are eagerly collected by “Galanthophiles”, the world record fetching over £1900 for one bulb! Thankfully, those Richard brought for sale were far more modestly priced. I chose the species Galanthus (Greek = milk flower) gracilis, with slender outer petals or skirts which lift in the sun to reveal frilly green and white “knickers”. Cultivars marked green on their outer petals are rarer but  are slow to colonise.

Clumps should be divided every 3-5 years, not “in the green” but when the leaves are yellow and dying back, giving them chance to replenish the bulb. Bulbs that are too small will not flower. Wash clumps gently in a bucket of water to remove soil then carefully tease the bulbs apart so they naturally shed into groups of 3-4 bulbs. Snowdrop roots will pull the bulb to the right depth but planting 2-3” deep will stop nibbling by mice.

​Snowdrops will grow in shade and sun provided the soil is moist and well drained.  Add grit or sharp sand to the hole and a handful of good compost. If  plants are hungry, the bulbs will divide and not flower . Mulch the plants with 3” of compost, well rotted manure and blood, fish and bone at the start of every winter and apply a handful of Growmore after flowering in March. 

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HK Garden Club January 2019 Newsletter

Our Club continues to grow with three new members welcomed to our January meeting. 

After the grey Norfolk days we’ve endured recently,  it was uplifting to be transported to a North African Spring by our speaker, Kathy Gray, whose photos of Moroccan flora were accompanied by clear blue skies! The country is bordered by the Atlantic to the west, the Mediterranean to the north and the Sahara to the south. Two mountain ranges also influence its climate. As you would expect, the region is prone to drought so the plants tend to be slow growing with long roots and small, fleshy or spiky, leaves to conserve water. Many belong to the daisy family (Asteraceae) although we also saw euphorbias, statice and lavenders, but species not suited to UK cultivation. 
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Morocco is famous for its Argan tree (Argania spinosa)  forests, which grow in a UNESCO biosphere reserve of 8000 square kilometres. Relics of more tropical times, the trees can live for 200 years and grow to 10 metres tall. Their long roots stabilise the dry soils. The hard nuts of their lemon-shaped fruits are cracked open by hand, usually by women, the kernels then producing Argan oil for culinary and cosmetic use. This high value oil is a major export for the Berber people but the income allows them to by more goats, which climb the trees and overgraze them. In the last 100 years, half the forest has been lost to overgrazing, charcoal making and cultivation.  

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HK Garden Club December Newsletter

​On Monday 10th December, the Club had its Christmas Social. Christine Foxwell cooked us a gorgeous meal - roast pork or roasted cauliflower tart and all the trimmings followed by Christmas Bakewell tart or fresh fruit salad or cheese and biscuits.....and, of course, mince pies and mint chocolates with our coffee!

Our chairman gave us a table top quiz to keep us busy and members generously gave prizes for a huge raffle. One of the traditional highlights of the evening is to find you are sitting on the chair with the special sticker which entitles you to take the table decoration home, beautifully made by Sue Hebburn.
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Our evening talks resume on Monday 14th January at 7.30pm, when Kathy Gray will show us the flora of Morocco. In February we shall learn about snowdrops and, in March, bearded irises.  If any of these subjects interest you then please join us in High Kelling Village Hall as a guest. We always welcome new members.

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HK Garden Club November Newsletter

High Kelling Garden Club were privileged to hear a first class talk on Gertrude Jekyll at their monthly meeting on 12th November. The speaker, Miranda Villiers, is a great-great-niece of Gertrude Jekyll and she is also a goddaughter of Jekyll's great friend and long term collaborator Edwin Lutyens, the distinguished architect.

The first woman to become famous in the world of garden design and horticulture, Gertrude Jekyll was born in 1843 and was 89 years old when she died in 1932. By then she had created some 400 gardens in Britain, Europe and other parts of the world.

When she was four years old, Jekyll's family moved from London to Bramley in Surrey and that was the county that she loved and where she spent almost all of her life with her pet cats. As a young woman she travelled widely, visiting many countries in the Mediterranean and using her talents as an artist, nurtured at the Kensington School of Art, to capture memories of those countries and particularly their gardens. Helped by her involvement in the Arts and Crafts movement, she began to design gardens for many celebrities, among them the Duke of Westminster at Eaton Hall in Cheshire.
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Deciding to build a new house at Munstead Wood in Surrey in the 1880s, she met the young architect Edwin Lutyens and from then on they worked together on many projects, including Lindisfarne Castle and the beautiful Bois des Moutiers in Normandy. Jekyll was a prolific writer, with over 1,000 articles for Country Life and other magazines, and she also wrote 14 books on garden design.

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HK Garden Club October Newsletter - 50 Years Young!

Our October meeting opened with a celebration of 50 years of the Garden Club. A magnificent sponge made  by Christine Foxwell was ceremonially cut by Trudy White alongside David Hines and Carol Otty, all club members at the silver celebration 25 years ago. Philip Murrell then sliced it for us to be shared by all present. Dawn Rose provided a beautiful golden floral table decoration, which was later raffled.

Still munching, we settled down to an entertaining illustrated talk by Graham Watts, whose garden at Dale Farm,  Dereham, opens under the National Garden Scheme and raises thousands of pounds for caring charities. Having trained at Kew, he was in charge of Cambridge parks for many years and his wife, Sally, worked in their nurseries. Graham showed us how he transformed his 2 acre overgrown wilderness into a stunning plant lovers' garden. His first job in 2007 was to improve access to the large spring fed pond and cut back the bullrushes. He introduced grass carp to control the invasive parrot feather water weed. He needed to create parking in the front garden for visitors so he removed lawn and hedges and created gravel beds. New meandering paths and beds were laid around the garden and the lake pontoon was extended to make it safer for visitors.

We learned that even expert gardeners make mistakes. Graham had hoped to make a wildflower meadow under his newly planted orchard, but the soil proved to be far too fertile, so only the grass thrived. This was then replaced by a perennial seed mixture used in the Olympic Park, called “Pictorial Meadows”, which enjoys the fertility and provided quick colour. Contrary to what we might think, research on the Continent has shown that most plants, apart from vegetables, will establish better if we do not add fertiliser at planting time.  Their hard work meant that they opened their garden just three years later and the gorgeous photos showed us that a remarkably full garden can be quickly achieved yet is always evolving. 

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HK Garden Club September Newsletter

Our first meeting of the season was on Monday 10th September. We were delighted to see seven new faces. 
The Garden Club plant stall at the High Kelling Fete on 1st September was a great success (see photographs below) and the remaining items were on sale at the meeting.

Unfortunately our speaker was unable to attend, but committee members dashed home for a laptop and dvd so we could watch an Alan Titchmarsh presentation about National Trust Gardens around the country. The nearest garden was at Peckover House in Wisbech. Behind the Georgian townhouse, once owned by  the Quaker Peckover family, is a fine example of a Victorian garden, whose two acres include a spectacular rose garden, orangery and croquet lawn and many specimen plants collected by the Peckovers. Next time we’re driving west towards Peterborough, it looks well worth a detour to visit. 
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Our chairperson reminded us that the Garden Club was formed around 50 years ago, so we will have a small celebration to mark this at 7pm before next month’s meeting on Monday 8th October. We welcome new members and guests so do join us at High Kelling Village Hall on the second Monday of each month between September and May. Our evenings start with tea and a chat, we usually have an illustrated talk lasting about an hour and we hold a small raffle with prizes donated by members. We sit down to our pre-Christmas meal at our December meeting and, during the summer, we have our full day  coach outing to a garden or gardens in our region. Please contact out club secretary Tanya on 01263-713974 for more details. Hopefully our club will flourish for another 50 years.

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HK Garden Club at The Summer Fayre
​September 2018

Our club stall at High Kelling's annual village fayre did a roaring trade - thank you to everyone who contributed items, helped on the day or made purchases.