Volunteers Play Days
Words: The Alnwick Garden
Being a Volunteer at The Alnwick Garden isn’t all
about work, there are social times as well. We have
been lucky enough to experience two such times
recently.
The first was a get together of staff and volunteers
which culminated in a round of adventure golf. We
were among the first to try out The Garden’s new
Adventure Golf course, The Forgotten Garden. The
course itself is very picturesque - love the worm! It is
also quite challenging, even for those who play
‘proper’ golf! As we went around in groups of five
closely following one another, there was much
hilarity and also a distinct edge of competition,
naturally since prizes were involved and bragging
rights at stake. Great fun was had by all, so do give it
a go if you haven’t already.
Our second venture was a day trip to Wynyard
Gardens near Stockton. We had deliberately picked
a day towards the end of June anticipating that the
roses would be at their peak. Unfortunately it was
also the day that the heavens decided to open! As
we passed through Tyneside the skies were bla ck
and there were radio reports of flooding. Not good
weather for visiting an outdoor venue then!
However we continued on our journey, and to our
great relief as we pulled in to the grounds of
Wynyard, the rain petered out. We had a beautiful
sunny afternoon visit to what is a lovely walled
garden with hundreds of roses mingled with herba-
ceous planting all in full bloom, intermingled with
lawn and rills and fruit trees growing against the
walls. The roses are all from David Austin, as are
those in The Rose Garden here, but it was interesting
to see the different style of planting. The food was
good too, so what could have been a disaster turned
out to be an interesting day.
P.S. The Head Gardener admitted that he had not
visited The Alnwick Garden, so we urged him to
come and see what we have here!
If this inspires you to think that you might like to
volunteer at The Alnwick Garden, have a look at The
Garden website, www.alnwickgarden.com, where you
can find information about what we volunteers do to
support the work of and in The Garden.
Alternatively call the Gardeners Cottage,
01665511350, for information.
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