On Sunday 10th June 2012 four gardens on the village were opened to the public to raise funds for The Dorothy House Hospice. The gates were manned by members of the Friends of Dorothy House who collected the gate money and we offer our grateful thanks to Jim & Caroline at 68, Compton Bassett; Charles and Louisa at Austins Farm; Peter & Nicki at Whisper Cottage and finally Peter and Libby at Compton Bassett Farm for opening their gardens for the event. The final amount raised is believed at the time of writing to be in excess of £1500!

The gardens were in excellent order and showed the rest of us mere mortals how to do it properly. The weather was not the kindest to us and gradually closed in as the afternoon wore on but the rain, building through the afternoon did nothing to dampen the event. There was tea and cakes, a small jazz band to entertain the gathered throng, glasses of Pimms and several stalls selling a variety of goods to add to the village community feel that we all enjoyed.

We all work hard at trying to master our own little plots and most of us like to show off our efforts to a sympathetic visitor when given the opportunity. This afternoon gave us all the chance to see what lies beyond high hedges and gave us some further inspiration for when summer finally shows us her fulsome hand.

The image gallery below will advance automatically and pause if you hold your mouse over the image if you want to take a longer look. Clicking on the image will open the full picture in a seperate window. Our grateful thanks to Sue Whiskin for allowing us to use these photgraphs.