Serge Hill Garden & Plant Fair
Joan Stuart-Smith: holding the fort while Aubrey Barker breaks for lunch on the Hopleys stand
A day in early May. Anxious moments as the morning began fair and then, just before 11am, out came the sun. What bliss! The visitors rolled in – around a thousand of them - all eager to wander around over thirty specialist nursery and craft stalls set in the beautiful grounds of Serge Hill. And the gardens, well they were just stunning. Masses of vivid colour from huge azaleas framed the lawns, the hundred-yard border was full of early spring flowers, the half acre walled garden took visitors by surprise with its unusual wall plants and the ordered pattern of planting, the camellias in the greenhouse brought gasps of delight and many a happy gardener simply sat and looked out across the ha ha at the restful landscape.We have Sir Murray and Lady Stuart-Smith to thank for all their hard work in the garden and for so generously allowing us to use Serge Hill for this fundraising event, held jointly with the Hospice of St Francis at Berkhamsted. We also owe huge thanks to Tom Stuart-Smith who opened his one acre newly-designed garden for us, just across the way at The Barn. Unsurprisingly, visitors flocked to this amazing garden designed by a six times Chelsea Gold Medal winner (seven times now after Chelsea 2008 and Best in Show too!) They marvelled at the courtyard with its rectangular tanks of water surrounded by simple paths and spring flowers and at the design of garden compartments and extraordinary numbers of plants. A complete joy!
All this as well as magnificent stalls with clematis, geraniums, herbs and lavender, Mediterranean plants, ornamental grasses, perennials, shrubs, trees, wrought iron crafts, garden tools, art and sculpture and a great deal more. Everyone seemed to stay on for much of the day, also enjoying wonderful refreshments and lunch served by some incredibly hardworking HGT and Hospice volunteers. Visitors eventually left with smiles on their faces and many saying 'thank you for a really good day'. It was - and we had a surplus of almost £4,500. Our thanks go to many HGT volunteers for their help across three days but our special thanks go to Annie Saner who masterminded the whole event.
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