From Anonymous Competitor to Niall Hobhouse
Anonymously (since all visits to the Open Days are supposed to be unconnected with anyone taking part in the judging) I wanted to tell Nori and Sandra that even if none of the judges have approached them for an opinion, they might like to know that Open Day visitors have all been wondering what they thought about the destruction of their garden. Although all the visitors are likely to be in competition with each other there has actually been quite a sense of cameraderie at the Open Days - with groups gathering together to share thoughts - mostly along the lines of “How could the Popes bear it?”, and sharing remembrances of earlier visits and happy hours spent there. The Popes may have gone, but they are definitely not forgotten by any of us - and most of us have a little bit of the old Hadspen planted in our gardens as well as in our hearts!