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Larking

We get a lot done on volunteer days at the Gardens – and have fun too! This week we spread out around the Gardens in a big push to tidy up and get ready for this Sunday’s final Open Day of the season. We have picked and cleaned the pumpkins an ...

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Onward march

Looking for unexploded ordnance and finding plant labels, that is the name of this game – Bill has been making steady progress on it and this week Paul and Peter from Great Easton joined the fray. Our hope is that, once the way has been declared cle ...

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An autumn challenge!

We are recruiting – so a challenge for you to consider joining our team and a challenge for us to find you! At the Gardens this week we enjoyed glorious warm sunny weather, perfect for tidying the Gardens – deadheading and weeding – and ...

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Apples for all: wildlife and us

We are having a good year for apples and hope you will come and enjoy them with us, on Sunday, at our Apples and Bees Day. We have a good picking of Bramleys for sale and volunteers have taken some for jellies, mincemeat and cakes for the Open Day. Visito ...

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Den builders wanted!

We are never short of wood and on our 22 August Open Day kids and big kids will be encouraged to use some to build dens here in the Lime Wood. Visitors will also be encouraged to seek out our champion trees. The rains have ensured we are now harvesting a ...

Dig for Victory

RHS exhibition put in place

Despite the heat this week, we got some tidying done in advance of the Open Day on Sunday and today we put the RHS exhibition in place. At the Open Day we will remember the role of the Countess and Gardens in WWI and the men and women of the airbase in WW ...

cutting the long grass

A late first cut

Like others, we are aiming to support the recovery of biodiversity by giving space to nature. In our case this includes leaving areas for wildflowers, which are both lovely to look at and support a huge range of insect species. To do this we delay cutting ...

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What a picture!

We mostly had a lovely day for Essex Gardens Trust‘s Tour and Draw group and they spread around the Gardens, sketching with charcoal. It is inspiring to see what others can do!! Meanwhile, we managed our first big picking of fruit for jellies and ja ...

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Beautiful, even on an overcast day

The Gardens were looking beautiful for the Open Day last weekend, despite it being an overcast day and visitors thoroughly enjoyed the nature activities on offer. Volunteers and Open Thursday visitors this week were treated to warm sunshine. This meant we ...

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Beautiful borders

Just in time for the Open Day on Sunday 27 June, the borders in the walled kitchen garden and the Italian garden are becoming more colourful by the day. The veg beds are also filling up and today we had our first pickings of baby carrots and beetroot, cha ...