Looking ahead to the Gardeners' World Spring Fair and more

* I have been provided a pair of tickets to the Gardeners’ World Spring Fair, and also for entry to Exbury Gardens & Steam Railway from Gardeners’ World and Exbury Gardens respectively, therefore all posts from these visits will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

All of a sudden, it’s next week. I hope those that are exhibiting are a lot more on top of things than I am, otherwise it won’t be much of a show at all…

I’m fully expecting to return with many, many photos and information to share - and I can’t wait. It’ll be good to visit a part of the country we haven’t been to for a while. We used to have a favourite place with self-catering lodges just outside Ringwood that we went to a few times, but things change, and the small independently run spot closed. I think we last visited the New Forest back in 2011, before I even started blogging, but not quite in the physical photo era. I’m sure lots has changed, but I’m also sure lots will have stayed the same.

At the Spring Fair

It’ll be my first time visiting the Gardeners’ World Spring Fair, I’ve been to Gardeners’ World Live in Birmingham a couple of times and it’s always a brilliant day out, so I’m expecting this one to be just as good, and just as inspiring as well as tiring. I’m especially looking forward to:

• The Hillier Secret Garden: inspired by The Secret Garden, a walk-through garden enclosed by high hedges and containing colour-coordinated plants and shrubs portraying the movement of the sun during a spring day. It already sounds magical.

• Paul Stone’s showcase garden Theatre of Greens: the garden will be packed with veg and edible plants, alongside a programme of daily talks hosted by Chris Bavin and feature ‘grow your own’ gurus. I do like a spot of edible growing, though have done very little of this since our house has been on the market, which makes admiring someone else’s work even more enjoyable.

• All of the Beautiful Borders which offer inspiration for small gardens and challenging spaces, the theme is ‘My Garden Escape’, and as I said before this is the part of the shows where MOH despairs of me, I like to see them all and can be quite methodical about making sure I have seen everything. And I mean literally everything.

• Budget-friendly gardens: I’m looking forward to seeing the budget-friendly gardens the horticultural students will create under the expert eye of mentor Cherry Carmen, the award-winning garden designer, a Gold Award at BBC Gardeners’ World Live.

I’m sure we’ll also spend some time time checking out the talks and information available from the Gardeners’ World Live Stage. I know that Frances Tophill is due to be at the show on Friday, so I’ll be looking out for her, and of course the BBC Good Food Market is also taking place, and we’d be foolish to resist that.

Plus two new-to-me gardens to visit

As well as all of that, the Spring Fair is held at Beaulieu so all of their attractions are available too. Hopefully we’ll have the time (and energy) to see the grounds and gardens - at the top of my list is the Victorian Kitchen Garden and Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland Topiary, as I am rather partial to both of these. No doubt, we’ll try to visit as many of the gardens as we can, and make time to see the National Motor Museum. It seems I’m also a closet petrol-head, as we’ve also visited motor museums in Munich (BMW World) and in the Lake District (the Lakeland Motor Museum), both of which are fantastic. For some reason, neither of those visits have made it here, I’m not sure why - maybe I’ll do something about that at some point!

The other new-to-me garden is Exbury Gardens & Steam Railway which celebrates ‘more than 100 years of horticultural excellence’. The gardens were created by Lionel de Rothschild in 1919 and still managed by the family today. It’s famous for its displays of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias, so hopefully we will be able to see them starting to bloom, as I suspect they may not be quite as advanced this year with the chilly and wet spring we seem to be having.

I also hope to check in on the wisteria in the Sundial Garden but I’m not sure if we’ll get the full wisteria experience, we may be a month too early. And while I’m a closet petrol-head, MOH likes a railway or two - we brought home track, engines and all sorts from his childhood railway adventures, which he assures me will be on eBay at some point. So he's especially interested in the Steam Railway, the Rhododendron Line (let’s hope he doesn’t spend the day calling it the RosieDendron Line, though I’m not holding my breath), with its three engines and ten carriages all named after the Rothschild family. The railway meanders through the garden, and steams through a tunnel modelled on the famous Gothic folly, the Clayton Tunnel is West Sussex, which MOH seemed knowledgeable about when I shared this info, I told you he liked a railway or two!

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

So while there’s plenty on our list already to be keeping us busy, what else would you add? It doesn’t have to be garden related, I think we might be in garden overload if we add more! And I know the New Forest has plenty more to see and visit.

* With thanks in advance to both Gardeners’ World and Exbury Gardens & Steam Railway for providing entry tickets to your event and gardens.

Patterns and unexpected plans

Unexpectedly I fell in love with a dress on the Sew Different stand at The Stitch Festival, and as I said in my previous post about the show, I would have happily bought the made up version if that had been an option. I loved everything about it - the main fabric, the contrasting frill and the shape, but I wasn’t convinced I could actually make it and spent a fair while looking at the pattern and the dress more closely.

And talking myself into it. I know I can sew, and I know I can follow patterns. However, mostly I don’t sew clothes, or follow patterns that closely, but it hit me hard and so I’m going to give it a go. As it was the material that was also part of the draw, I was keen to find out where that was from. Speaking to the people on the stand I learnt it was from Lady McElroy Fabrics, who were also at the show.

Guess where I headed next.

I showed the Lady McElroy people my picture and they knew the fabric, what was less easy was finding it on their stall, even for them they had that many fabrics. They even offered to check their van, but with people with bolts of fabric in their hands behind me, I decided to wait and order online. The doubts were creeping in again, but I left with the fabric name and a discount code, so it wasn’t all bad.

As I was browsing patterns I also saw this sundress pattern, and I thought perhaps a sundress might be easier to start with. I think sundresses are also pretty timeless, and this one looked pretty versatile too. I remembered the yellow fabric I’d bought at the Knitting & Stitching Show back in 2021 where I had the opposite conundrum - falling in love with the fabric, and not knowing what I’d make. I couldn’t remember how much I’d bought though…

Later on I dug the fabric out from where it had been safely stored and rough measured the quantity, and as I half expected it’s unlikely that I have enough - but won’t the cute birds look great for this design?

LEFT: THE UNWORN DRESS
RIGHT: THE PROBABLY NOT ENOUGH FABRIC

The cogs were whirring and I remembered the dress I bought for my brother’s original date Covid-delayed wedding. I bought it in the sale because I loved the fabric, the fit needed some work, but as it turned out I never wore it as when the wedding took place last year I saw another dress that worked just as well with the hat I’d bought back in March 2020. The dress has hung in my wardrobe since, and I still love that fabric.

I wondered what it would look like alongside the bird fabric, and if it could work. I think it can - the colours are more similar than it looks in the photo, they are a similar fabric type and have a similar weave. They are clearly different styles, but that’s part of what appeals to me. If you’re going to make your own then you really don’t have to stick to convention do you, and I’m pretty certain there won’t be another one the same!

Of course, what looked like it would be a simpler make just got more complicated as the dress needs to be unpicked first (once I’m really sure it will work) and the pattern carefully planned and laid out before any cutting out will start. From then on though, it should be back on course.

I steeled myself and took my two patterns to the desk to pay to learn of the ‘too good to miss’ show deal for three patterns, so back I went and picked up the pattern which I’d almost opted for instead of the sundress.

It was an easy choice as I’d already ummed and ahhed about this one, but also because over the last year I’ve found myself wearing jeans most days, and they have become my default option and sometimes I wish they weren’t. So a casual, easy to wear dress for almost any weather could be a good addition to my wardrobe, and as you’ll know from my plans for the sundress and my love of scrappy quilts, the number of materials in the pattern also appealed.

I’m glad I chose this pattern as further around the show I fell in love with this embroidered chambray. In fact there were so many gorgeous fabrics around the show, I’m surprised I only left with this one, the panels below and plans to buy the fabric for the first dress.

I think I've bought too much of the embroidered chambray, as the pattern says to use this on the back as well. Though on reflection I think the back should be plain, but I can’t say I’m that upset to have more of this fabric than I need. I just need to collect fabric for the other sections now, and I’m sure that won’t be that hard once I put my mind to it!

So I have plans for three dresses, what now?

1. I’ve ordered the material for the Darjeeling Frock, and I’m waiting for it to arrive. I knew the contrasting fabric wasn’t from the same place, but didn’t know where it was from so I’ve ordered a metre of two spotted fabrics to see which works best. I’ve also guessed at the amount I’ll need for a contrast frill, as the pattern uses the same fabric for the whole dress. I’m looking forward to receiving my order, but of course that will mean moving to the next step - choosing the contrast fabric, opening the pattern and getting started. Eek!

2. So I potentially have the fabric - or two of them - for the Fleetwood Frock, but what should have been the easiest option is more complicated and will take some concerted brain power to ensure I have enough material before I start cutting out. That’s another eek!

3. I’m less far forward with my plans for the Essential Denim Dress, and that’s ok. Given that I have that lovely fabric and need more fabric to complement and contrast, I know this one will follow as there’s no way that I will leave the embroidered fabric shut away for too long.

What I do need is to get started, I know that I’m a procrastinator especially when it’s something new. But I also know that it’s completely do-able, and mum’s on standby to provide advice when needed (as it will be needed) and I’m sure the sense of achievement will be immense, even if the dresses turn out a little wonkier than they’re supposed to be.

They’ll be my kind of wonky!

My garden in March

In February’s post I hoped that March would get the memo and be warmer, and it may well have done for a few days at least, but it was generally a very wet month, so once again there’s been very little time spent in the garden. With the rain though comes growth and it’s the camellia which keeps delivering its red blooms, and the promise of tulips which have really come on that are the highlights as I look back at March.

But let’s start with the promise of new growth that comes with Spring, whatever the weather.

It wasn’t all sun and rain though, early in the month - this was our view. Thankfully it didn’t hang around for long.

The euphorbias have started to share their lime green freshness, and I’ve moved the pots of tulips nearer to the house so we can enjoy their colour. I’m still so pleased with myself for potting them into large flower pots which can be inserted into the heavier terracotta pots on the patio. Not only are they much lighter to move around, it’s such a good way of adding seasonal colour without a lot of effort, I’ll be doing more of that for sure!

The forsythias are such cheery plants and each year I welcome their bust of colour. This small plant, which is close to the patio, seems to get more and more vibrant with each year and is complemented by the larger bush further down the garden. Again having repeating plants in a garden really makes a difference and brings it all together - and often is cheaper, especially if you can propagate new plants from cuttings.

I’ll leave you with a final shot of the tulips in their winter resting spot, which they seemed to approve of. I’m hoping we’ll be enjoying the colour they bring for a good few more weeks yet, but that is likely to be dependant on the wind - wish us luck!