This June, we have no fewer than nine visiting groups who have chosen to book a trip to the Challis Garden and House, some returning, some first-time bookers. They range from disability groups, through local organisations to those who don’t quite know what to expect! We are always delighted to welcome groups and can offer tours, talks and refreshments, if required. If you are part of a group who may be interested in making a booking, you will find a form on our Challis Trust website under ‘Contact Us’
In the Main House, our exhibition featuring the fascinating history of Sawston High Street continues on Tuesday and Saturday mornings We have had an excellent response from visitors and apart from what we have discovered from our own research and archives, our visitors always bring along so much more fresh historical information.
Finally – exciting news – a wonderful new exhibition – Trees in The Challis Gardens – is now open in The Reeve Building (situated just inside the main gate). It offers a fabulous in-depth look at many of our amazing trees, some of which were planted in the lifetime of Mary Challis and some even earlier. Opening times – Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings from 10 am to 12 noon.
June Garden Highlights:
Well, it has certainly been a challenging Spring this year with exceptionally dry conditions through April and May, late frosts and an extreme heatwave in late May! The Garden team have been very busy watering to keep bedding plants, container plantings and recently planted shrubs alive. Fortunately, we have borehole water at our disposal! With temperatures reaching 50 degrees C. in our greenhouses, we’ve had to move plants outside earlier than usual to harden off. Shrubs and trees are also suffering; we’ve lost a shrub honeysuckle, a mature lilac and a large Viburnum rhytidophyllum (wrinkled viburnum) in recent weeks. Very sorry to lose these!
We are very busy at present preparing for the village Open Garden event on Sunday 14 June to raise funds for the National Garden Scheme, which supports several important national nursing and caring charities. Eight gardens – including the Challis Garden – are opening this year. £7 per adult covers entry to all the gardens. Do come along to support us and enjoy tea and cake in the Challis Garden and check out our plants for sale. Meanwhile, there’s lots of deadheading, mowing, watering and weeding to do. If you’d like to join our garden team to help out, please have a chat with us.
There’s plenty of wildlife to observe in the Garden, as we move into summer. Several birds are nesting, including great spotted woodpeckers in full view in a dead tree. We’ve enjoyed watching them in recent weeks. There will be more butterflies and other insects to see as the wildflower meadow and bee border come into flower. There are many painted lady butterflies around at the moment. It’s amazing to think these are long-distance migrants from North Africa and Southern Europe! They are very welcome!
Mike Redshaw