Outing to Dale Farm Dereham

'On Tuesday 18th August the Reepham and District Gardening Club had their first live get together since the Coronavirus lockdown forced them to abandon their regular Town Hall meetings and resort to on-line meetings. The 18th August should have seen the members having their annual Summer Show, but instead the Committee organised an outing to Dale Farm, Dereham. Owner Graham Watts had given the club a very interesting talk last year on the gardens of Dale Farm, which whetted the appetite of the members to see the gardens for themselves. The gardens are open on special days under the National Garden Scheme (NGS) with proceeds being split between the charities which are supported by the NGS, but on this occasion the Garden Club was given special access. A superb day ensued with the gardens looking wonderful, weather being very kind and great company - couldn't ask for anything more. 40 members and guests arrived over a 1 hour period ensuring that there were no queues at the gate and social distancing was observed. As it was the first time in 5 months that the members had met up in person there was much to talk about and the walk around the gardens was a slow affair as members bumped into each other (not literally!) and chatted. Graham was also always there to answer the numerous questions that were fired at him. Gate receipts and plant sales ensured that the Garden Club visit raised £357 for the NGS charities.'