Entertaining visitors

Five intrepid local Arlingtonians opened their gardens to the public in June as part of the National Gardens Scheme (NGS). The gardens had all been vetted and awarded the accolade of appearing in the famous NGS Yellow Book. Together, in just over three hours they raised £1,000 for the charities supported by the NGS.

In addition, the sale of teas and home-made cakes brought us £400 to spend on Arlington Association community projects. With the flattering comments from the 200 visitors still ringing in their ears, the gardeners went on with helpers and guests to celebrate the success of the afternoon with a party in the Vicarage garden, where Emma and Rupert Egerton-Smith entertained us all with music and songs.

Open Squares

We weren’t so lucky with the weather the following weekend when we welcomed scores of Open Garden Squares Weekend ticket-holders to the square.

The author Margaret Willes (left) joined us on the Saturday and signed copies of her latest book The Gardens of the British Working Class, kindly donating a percentage of the sales to the AA.

Our visitors came from all over south-east England. Some visited Arlington Square because they wanted to learn more about how to set up a community gardening group.

Sales of teas, cakes and Arlington notelets, homemade Arlington chutney, marmalade and rose-petal jam made £250, which has bought us some more plants for the square. Our grateful thanks, as always, to the small and hard-working band of volunteers who helped us over the weekend.