Sculpture by the Lakes RPF

 Going to the Sculpture by the Lakes Rare Plant Fair was a good excuse to stay in Weymouth, and two years on from the last visit gave Pam and I the opportunity to enjoy the gardens and sculpture, again. It has certainly developed and changed since we last visited.

Thunderstorms were forecast on that Sunday, but luckily didn't materialise, although there was a sharp downpour at 5pm. There were a great selection of nurseries attending, and we bought a fantastic selection of plants. I didn't get a good photo of the plant sale, it's always a bit difficult photographing groups of people. My favourite photo is this one of Jane walking through the willow tunnel:

The gardens are carefully thought out and well maintained. I particularly liked the arrangement of plants around this sculpture and the lavenders behind it.

This hanging seat looked good, it was impossible to photograph without the person sitting beneath it!!

I thought these worked well, maybe it was windier than I'd thought because the reflections haven't worked out that well.

Below is a new area since the last visit with tree ferns and lots of other planting

Two years ago, Pam and I were photographed by this sculpture, this time I thought it would be good to take another photograph in the same place, with Jane this time. Here's the link to that post for comparison.

The pigeons are troublesome in the vegetable garden, there are some impressive structures to protect them.

Below a Dianthus just a mass of flowers, I have the same one, not looking nearly so good.

I do like this sculpture, it was in the blog last time, and appears again. I should say the sculptures are by Simon Gudgeon, and the garden is designed by Monique Gudgeon who recently appeared on Radio 4's Ramblings programme talking about national collections. She is developing a national collection of forsythia.

Sculpture by the Lakes is a magical place with tranquil spaces like this one where you can sit and watch the birds on the lake.

Great place to visit, even though we didn't have the high temperatures and sunshine experienced two years ago, and the gardens are better than ever.