On Tuesday, 11th July twenty five members enjoyed a splendid Garden Safari in Dunsford, visiting Southwood House, Briton Bank, Cottage Garden, East Steps and the rewilded Dunsford churchyard.
The gardens varied in size from large to small, and each provided a wide diversity of planting. We started at Southwood House, which has a garden with many flowering plants, a small rockery, a raised herb bed, shrubs, trees, a pond, a lawn, a productive vegetable patch and a greenhouse.

Briton Bank has a large garden concentrating on a natural, informal look with wild meadow areas, a new pond, a vegetable plot and a variety of trees. Cottage Garden is a small walled garden, bordered on one side by a stream. It has topiary, a pond, ferns, a small area of wild flowers and an interesting display of house leeks.

East Steps has a small garden on three tiers with numerous colourful flowers and shrubs.

Our last visit was to the Dunsford churchyard, where Chris Robyn gave us an informative guided tour around its old part, which he has adeptly rewilded. It includes flowers for cutting, a sensory bed, a floral border and a water trough with lilies. Our thanks go to all our hosts, the owners, for allowing us to go round their lovely gardens and enjoy the pleasure of viewing their hard work creating and maintaining them so well. Fortunately, it remained dry for our visits with a shower of rain conveniently arriving as we gathered for tea in the Walled Garden.