Old Rectory Ramblings

Sudborough Old Rectory waits:

Tony — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:16:27 +0000

It’s a grey indifferent day here and I am impatiently waiting for some sun and warmth in order to bring the Tree Peonies into flower… Some of them have 5 and 6 huge buds just on the verge of opening…Most frustrating.!!! Also the herbaceous peonies are in full growth and look marvellous with the wallflower foliage and flower along with the tulips. In addition the Pear trees are leafing up and the Viburnum scent is lovely.

Old Rectory Gardens Sudborough

Tony — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:16:16 +0000

April showers,we have certainly had them and cold ones at that. We have had a busy time of late,mainly fund raising, for Marie Curie Cancer Care and on Sunday we were open for the NGS. We had around a 100 people who braved the weather and turned out, but having said that the garden is looking great.The teas in the marque were in demand out of the rain and over £200 was raised for All Saints Church. The tulips are fantastic and the daffodils are still looking goods and our flock of rare breed poultry is very popular. The marques have now been stored away until the weekend 14th June when many events are happening such as A Garden Evening With The Experts and The Thrapston Brass Band will be playing while you have your picnic in the garden. I will put up full details shortly.

Fingers crossed for Saturday when we are having a wedding reception in the garden.

Old Rectory Gardens Sudborough

Tony — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:20:43 +0000

We have had a busy week preparing for one of our major events of the season “Chickens & Bantams in the Garden” with guest speaker Ivor Parrish, a renowned authority on Rare Breed Hens. It was a huge success and we raised over £5000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care. Ivor gave a fascinating speech on the all aspects of keeping these wonderful birds. We now have 35 birds of many different spices which give us enormous pleasure and plenty of eggs, 14 today,for our visitors to buy. The day was marred by a number of torrential showers but after Ivor’s talk and a delicious lunch I think every one went home having had a most enjoyable day supporting a wonderful Charity.

I must not forget the garden it is looking stunning, the daffodils around the pond are holding up well in this cool weather and the tulips are biding their time before the big blaze of colour.

I should have told you all that we are open again on Sunday 22nd April for the National Garden Scheme and teas will be in aid of All Saints Sudborough, do come along, the teas will be in a marque so no getting wet should it rain. Entrance £5.00 for a very good cause.

Old Rectory Gardens Sudborough

Tony — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 10:39:50 +0000

Jack Frost is at it again and a couple of nights ago he turned our white magnolia in the stable yard brown but in fairness it was on the wane, luckily our Soulangeanas are still in bud and will look wonderful in a day or so. The tulips are beginning to make a showing and I hope that the weather remains cool so that they are looking their best on 19th April when we are having a huge party in the Garden to show off our chickens amongst other thing to raise badly needed funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

New arrivals at Sudborough

Tony — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:45:17 +0000

We have been hugely busy making homes for our new chickens: rare breeds we have obtained from our dear friend Ivor. We love it when he comes to the garden because he brings splendid new fowl for our growing collection. There must be 15 different breeds ranging from Barbu d’Uccles to Frizzled Polands… all great characters and I waste lots of time watching them for hours it seems. We are really hoping they are a big hit with garden visitors because they are so unusual. We have made them a huge new run this week and all is electrified to keep out Mr. Fox.