Stobbsie's Diary: Harrogate Spring Flower Show

April 26th 2015

HARROGATE SPRING FLOWER SHOW

A large group of us from local gardening groups made an early start in our executive coach driven by our lovely lady driver. It was a long way to Harrogate, but the coach was extremely comforable and it was a good chance for Grannymac to chat with a friend she hadn't seen for a while. We stopped for a break along the way at a great little place called Mainsgill which is a farm shop and cafe with the most wonderful display of cakes etc. - very yummy! In the field beside Mainsgill we saw a most unusual sight - if I told you what we saw, you wouldn't believe me but we have a photograph to prove it! If I had asked you to guess, I don't think you would ever have said CAMELS! There was a young one hidden on the far side of a big one. What strange animals to see in a field in England!

Grannymac had been looking for a photo that she could call 'Potatoes' - she liked this one.

After travelling on for a bit longer, we arrived at Harrogate. Everyone was given their ticket and off we all went to enjoy the day.

It was a huge help that the local Red Cross ran courtesy mini-buses for people with limited mobility which saved a lot of walking. Along the way in there were lots of stalls, including one which was selling all sorts of things made of wood. Grannymac had bought a few things at that stall last autumn and wanted to have another look. The stall-holder was very friendly. He said we could take as many photos as we wanted. Then he dared me - to lie in the lion's mouth! I gulped but thought 'OK, I'm a brave little bear - why not?' So I did!

Wow! Mind you, I knew all along it wasn't a real lion. We had another look at the stall and I had a bit of fun. I liked the cat best and enjoyed chilling out with him for a little while. Grannymac bought a few little mice.

Beside this stall there were displays commemorating the D-Day landings - they were very impressive.

We then moved on to the 'gardeny' bits of the show which gave me the chance to play among some of the flowers.

There was so much to see that it was hard to know which way to go but we ended up going into some of the marquees. The first one had a reconstruction of a wartime scene with an allotment and other memorabilia. The man in his 1940's clothes was very friendly and jolly - he held me up to have a better look around.

Next stop was a specialist display of auriculas, one of Grannymac's favourites. They really were beautiful.

I wanted to play hide and seek but everyone was too busy to play.

There were far too many fascinating displays to show you all of them, but two other favourites were a tiny miniature orchid and a wonderful floral arrangement representing Fire - incredible!

Heading back to the bus, we spotted this person in the distance coming towards us. Grannymac really wanted a photo but it was very difficult as there were so many people around who kept getting in the way. She grabbed what she could and was really quite pleased with this one.