Cards and a bunch of flowers are traditional gifts for mother’s day. Whilst Sunday lunch and a visit to a garden are some of the typical activities. I am feeling rather pleased with myself as we did just that with my mum, but a week early. The timing was by accident, but it meant that we missed the scramble for bookings and tables at one of my favourite country pubs and, of course, caught last Sunday’s lovely weather. Our visit was to a local garden open under the National Gardens Scheme, a great British invention! If you want a hard copy of the gardens open and don’t want to buy the book, then you will find the free County Booklets, including London, in libraries and garden centres.
I wonder why women and gardens? Would you be more likely to take your mum to visit a garden than your dad. I have just received some readership details from a national gardening magazine where well over 70% of their readership is female. So it does look as if it is a predominantly female activity.
Some of the large landscape gardens and National Trust gardens are certainly gearing themselves up for mother’s day, with quite a few offering free entry to mums. They should all be looking lovely. The snowdrops may have finished, but the daffodils are in full bloom, blossoms abounds everywhere and I notice that the Magnolia trees are nearly in flower. I find a walk around a garden inspires me into activity in my own.
Here are a few gardens offering mums go free
Painshill Park in Surrey
National Botanic Garden of Wales
Trentham Gardens in Stoke on Trent
Unfortunately I am not going to be able to write about any garden I was taken to this Sunday. I booked tickets as a Christmas present for my family to have a tour of CBeebies at Broadcasting House, so we will be in a very different sort of environment . Next time I book tickets I shall check my diary!
Have a lovely Mothering Sunday.
