The Friends of Croome return for their annual garden visit, and we are delighted to see them as always. This year there are so many new faces amongst the ever more familiar ones. Once again the weather demonstrates a most favourable mood towards our friendly guests.

Photographs courtesy of Tadjio Szczepanik.

The Walled Kitchen Gardens Network kindly invited us to host this years workshop dedicated to restoration of garden buildings. Having attended past events of this type, we had a reasonable idea of the general expectaion from the delegates. We knew that we would be addressing some of the top gardening experts in the country and decided to focus our talk on some of the mistakes we've made during the past nine years. David Hargreaves followed on with a wealth of advice on what to look out for when conducting restoration work. He definitely knows his stuff.

 ...and then it was time for a spot of lunch followed by the inevitable garden tour

Thank you all for making this such a successful and enjoyable occassion. We look forward to hosting more workshops in the future.

It's now more than four years since the Rose Garden was first promised, and not a single rose has been planted yet. Thankfully ground work is progressing well and details of the garden layout start to become apparent as the curved borders and pathways are defined by their timbered edgings.

The South facing border bursts into life once again as sun and rain work their alternating magic, otherwise known as Spring. A variety of spring vegetables share space amongst the bloom while the strawberries and other season crops enjoy their own private quarters.

As work on the Vinery advances in the distance, the first fruit trees are planted in the recently prepared landscape of the upper gardens. The bees develop a keen interest as these new arrivals begin to blossom.

There's a lot to be said for saving the best 'till last. So much experience has been gained from previous works on the Melon & Fig Houses, providing us with valuable insight for the design of the Vinery House roof structure. Persuading the conservation officer to agree to the use of steel instead of timber for the main beams was, not surprisingly, a long process. However, the decsion for choosing this solution was not taken lightly. Steel is a much stronger and more stable material, and the design of the skeletal structure is such that it does not detract from the historic facade.

Meanwhile preparation for the new tomato and lettuce patch in front of the Fig House advances with every wheelbarrow full of horse muck.

John & Roy select their prefered tools for the job.. .

... while Dave glues some more sills together.

With the new southern boundary wall now complete, we embrace 2009 with cautious optimism, and decide to concentrate on advancing with the major glass houses. New technology under floor heating is installed in the Fig House whilst excavation work resumes along the arched frontage of the Vinery House. It's been a few years since the two bays to the west side, exactly half of the 40m low front wall, were restored. During that period, we uncovered firm evidence of previous buildings and path ways, but it left us with many un-answered questions. Expectations of disappointment mount as the mini digger begins to scoop away the top soil.

 As so often before, those expectations soon dissolve into intense curiosity and speculation; leaving no room for disappointment.

 Amongst a wealth of ceramic artefacts and the occasional stone trough, evidence of a brick floor begins to emerge.

 The surface of the brick floor, which is about one metre below ground, looks like it has been rendered. There are walls on three sides up to current ground level and the overall foot print measures approximately 10m x 1.5m

 Our first impression is that this end section of the Vinery House was obviously used, at some point in time, for a different purpose. The bricks appear to be contemporary with the main structure and the standard of workmanship is typically high.

A swift glimpse up the garden path reveals a parallel activity, of a horticultural nature. Preparation for the planting season remains our highest priority. We need all the help we can get to sustain productivity in the gardens. George and Millie, our recently appointed canine volunteers, appear to take their garden duties very seriously.