Shepway Chairman's Blog

My third event on Saturday 27 June is a visit to Lyminge for their Open Gardens Safari.  This takes place every two years and alternates with Postling’s annual open gardens event (a date for your 2010 diaries).  The Lyminge safari is held over two days and a passport for £3 entitles entry into 15 gardens in Lyminge and Etchinghill. 

Unusual plant pots outside the Methodist church

I start at the Methodist church where passports are on sale and there’s an impressive display of quilts and tapestries.  One very striking exhibit is a large hanging in four sections based on a picture of the local countryside.  Each section was worked on by separate groups without consultation so each is different in approach but each complments the other sections.  It is destined for a prominent position in the Methodist church. 

At the nearby Anglican church of St Mary & St Ethelburga, there is a Flower Festival themed on the seasons of the year and of the church.  The flowers make this beautiful old church even lovelier. 

Meeting Gordon Brown (the Etchinghill one not the Downing Street one)

Etchinghill's Gordon Brown

I have time for just a few visits to gardens one of which belongs to Mr & Mrs Gordon Brown in Etchinghill.  Mrs Brown tells me that it causes quite a stir when they go places where his name is called like the local hospital. 

There’s much to admire and inspire and the money raised will help the Lyminge Association in improving village life.