This year’s Open Day was an excellent reminder of the many benefits of this very special event.
Primarily the reason for doing it and the headline benefit is to raise money for the Village Hall and the Church. But, the football (England’s loss was the English countryside’s loss) and extraordinarily hot weather slashed our guest numbers and therefore our takings.
However, each year we do this we see the villagers enjoying themselves; making new friends; refreshing acquaintances, we are reminded that not only do our guests go away having had a fantastic day, but we benefit enormously.
Nothing engages the imagination of so many people, involves so much hard work by a dedicated band of villagers; nothing binds our community in such a way, nothing raises money like it does for the Church and Village Hall … and both are central to our social lives.
We had a fantastic day with a reduced number of guests (attracting about 175 guests) topped off with the BBQ to end all BBQs.
There were innovations amongst old favourites – the Miniature Garden and Potato Growing Competitions were introduced for the children. The sight of a youngster leading the adults in exploring the mud for potatoes cannot be topped.There are few pleasures greater than seeing Ronnie celebrating his ‘win’, only for Catherine’s bucket to unearth a 1.230 kg crop (nearly 3x Ronnie’s best) – Perfect!!
The Miniature Garden Competition (which attracted ‘out of town’ entries) was resoundingly won by Mollie Hobbs.
Thank you to all who played a role: gardeners, stallholders, car park attendants, helpers, tea ladies etc., etc. Some who were on holiday took great care to make sure they gave all they could – Thank you. Heather, Lorraine and the Green Dragon Quartet deserve special gratitude as do the new and ‘returning’ gardens.
Next year is the 20th anniversary of our first Gardens opening event, 2011 should be very special, watch this space!
Every year we feature our well regarded Open Gardens Day in this beautiful Cotswold village that offers extraordinarily value and features, well beyond the spectacular gardens.
Elkstone is a village between Cirencester and Cheltenham just off the Cirencester to Birdlip section of the A417. Each year our Open Gardens raises funds for the upkeep of our wonderful Norman church and for the village hall which are the vital hearts of this small but caring community. A large part of the village is a Conservation Area and those of us who live here, including certain celebrities who could live anywhere, but who choose to live in Elkstone, also enjoy the natural beauty of its surroundings.
St John’s Church is known for its unusual dovecote above the chancel and its quite exceptional Norman Arches in the chancel and sanctuary. The chancel arches, and those leading to the altar, are among the best in Gloucestershire, if not in Britain. The church is also the highest in Gloucestershire, and boasts a wonderful Norman tympanum above the south door. It is said by those who know that it is well worth taking a detour to explore the church and its striking collection of Norman arches and decorative features including grotesque monsters, birds, and a very Roman-looking centaur, ready to shoot an arrow from his bow.
Visitors to Elkstone enjoy the village which has a delightful variety of gardens, including the gardens of the magnificent Queen Anne Rectory.
