OUR speaker on June 6 was Duncan Coombs who is a retired Horticultural Lecturer and also writes a monthly blog on on the flowers at Pershore College.

We were delighted to share in his holiday memories from two gardens in France. The first was at The Chateau Bagatelle, where he spent a short time telling us some of the history. The Comte d’Artois, Louis XV1’s brother purchased the Property and proceeded to pull it down and rebuild it. Marie – Antoinette wagered that it could not be done in Three months, she lost as the property was built in 63 days!!!. The gardens were also designed at the same time. The gardens comprised of small individual gardens, A Rose Garden and Iris garden a Peony Border which was planted so that there were always Peonies in flower. There was a large Orangerie, a Lake and a Grotto, plenty for us to enjoy.

We then travelled to Giverny to view the beautiful gardens of Claude Monet. Monet actually started out as an artist much to the disapproval of his parents[ how many of us have been there!!] Unfortunately he became ill and could no longer continue but he was able to use his love of colour after purchasing a house with an adjoining field and developed his garden. Duncan showed us the different designs and the well thought out colours throughout. The Water Garden and the Lake which was covered with Lilies which sadly, for us, had not come in to Flower. The photographs did display Monet’s love of colour and if you are lucky enough to visit Giverny you will witness a great spectacle. It is not easy to describe all the photographs we saw but we all enjoyed the afternoon.

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 4 at the Civic Centre at 2pm where our speaker will be David Clark talking about The History of English Money, new members are very welcome. contact Marian Coulton on 550177 for further details.

MARIAN COULTON