Friday 3rd May 2024 - Edgefield Nurseries and Natural Surroundings

Following last weekend, the weather bucked up, that is up until today which so far has been wet.  Lots of time spent in the garden over the past few days plus some more plants purchased to fill in gaps.

The plants were purchased from Edgefield Nurseries, which was recommended to us by a couple of villagers.  It’s about fifteen miles away and given the cost of petrol, not somewhere to pop along to for the odd plant or two.  However, as I was looking to purchase quite a few plants, it was worth it, especially as we also visited nearby, Natural Surroundings.  We have a very good garden centre here in Overstrand but its size prohibits them stocking a great variety and large specimens.  I wasn’t disappointed with the selection of plants at the nursery, ranging from substantial olive trees to diminutive ground covering phlox.  Peter waited patiently while I walked through the polytunnels, greenhouses and outdoor displays, and chose eight plants.  All relatively small but I was still surprised when I got to the cash out – they only cost a total of £19.95.  All ready to take the trolley of plants to the car, Peter spotted a display of orchids and purchased one for me with delicate pink, off white and yellow flowers.

We continued to Natural Surroundings on the Bayfield Estate, where we spent the rest of the morning.  It was exactly a year since our last visit to the centre, which is owned and managed by Anne and Simon Harrap and incorporates a café and plant sales area.  Initially, you walk through areas with specific themes before entering woodland and out onto the wet meadows.  It was noticeable just how much wetter the woodland and meadows were this year.  After the autumn and winter rains the River Glaven, which runs along the bottom of the centre, burst its banks, flooding areas.  These have yet to full dry out leaving muddy parts to traverse; we mainly kept to the boardwalks where flooding had occurred.  The field of cowslips was not as impressive as last year, down to the blooms flowering earlier, but still a sight to see.  I saw my first newts in one of the ponds and a bug hotel was heaving with bees.  As other bug hotels nearby had no visitors, this led us to wonder whether something had been introduced to the holes e.g. sugar water to attract such large numbers.  We visited the Cabin, where the harvest mice entertained us, scampering about, in their tanks. The centre is such a peaceful place to visit with its birdsong, and visitors quietly chatting, although a jet did pass over at one point! 

I recorded some videos (I decided to do these on my phone as I felt the camcorder was too intrusive in this setting) and took a number of photos.  I have included photos of the herb garden and charcoal burner here, I will try to incorporate more photos into the videos, when I do the editing.