Two gentlemen from the Garden Safari committee came to survey the garden yesterday. It was pouring with rain and blowing a gale – not ideal garden-viewing conditions. They looked with alarm at the piles of rubble, the steep steps, the new retaining walls with sheer drop, the pond, the trampoline and all the other ‘risks’ and made notes on their clipboards. ‘Have you got any poisonous plants?’, one asked. Oh crikey. I thought for a moment that they were going to strike us off the list and tell us our garden was too unsafe. But, no, it’s ok. We will have barriers and signs saying ‘Go no further’, ‘There’s nothing to see here’, or similar. We’ll be cordoning off the steep, terraced, ‘lots of work to do’ part and keeping visitors to the safer, flatter, and very luckily, better-looking part.

They were slightly aghast at our relaxed attitude. There is still so much to do! The date is fast-approaching! David and I looked at each other – ‘But it’s weeks away…’ we said. Perhaps we’re being over-confident but, as we’ve done so much since March, we’re sure there’s time to get it in a fit state for people to look at.

There’s a whole heap of plants almost ready to go in to the newly revealed bed by the back wall and to fill gaps after the tulips have gone over. And the roses should be well into their flowering by then. Most of these were rescued from underneath overgrown shrubs in the front garden, so I’ve no idea what cultivar they are or what colour they’ll be! They’re in a sloping bed edged with box and also containing Miscanthus – a simple planting scheme but hopefully it’ll be looking pretty for the Safari at the end of June.

In any case, we’ll be serving afternoon teas with David’s scones, so it’ll be worth visiting just to sit and look at the sea and eat cake.

In other news… Two children are away this week – the youngest and the eldest (who is spending a lot of time away at the moment) are abroad on school trips. I’m missing them and the house is Very Quiet. Our self-contained middle child is tolerating the attention of both parents and enjoying having the computer all to himself. To take advantage of simpler logistics, we’re off to have a look at the Chelsea Flower Show on Thursday. I’ll try not to bombard you with too many photos.