We were invited by my brother, Michael, and his wife, Sandra, to a meal in the restaurant at Hall Place. Before eating we had a walk through the nursery run by the local council, which includes model gardens, well stocked, large greenhouses and a small area of plants for sale – I bought another fern to add to my collection in the fern garden. We then had a meal in what was the Old Jacobean Barn, now under new management. After lunch we went for a walk through the grounds and gardens of Hall Place, a Tudor Mansion. The brochure told us ‘the house sits in 65 hectares of award winning gardens’. There was plenty to see: colourful borders, specimen trees, rock gardens, vegetable gardens and lots of open spaces. After a look through the house and some of the exhibitions we made our way home.
