Our Garden at 79 and a very special visitor.
Spent the month repairing and refurbishing all the garden ornaments / features and the Studio and its ShedArt. This was in preparation for the visit of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to our house and garden as part of his annual tour as Patron of The London Gardens Society of 3 selected garden venues.
The 3 venues were ..
The Kids Garden Club in Hampstead Garden Suburb.. 100 + Children being hands on learning the basics of horticulture in a garden area donated by the local church St Judes and ran by volunteers.
79 Church Lane, East Finchley.. Our garden.. 5 times winners of “Best Small Back Garden in London” / 2 times winner of RHS Banksian Medal and 10 Years of opening our garden for National Garden Scheme Charity.
The Leopold Community Garden, East Finchley. Winner of London Gardens Society “Best Community garden in London” 2025.. A small community garden run by local volunteers and sponsored by Barnet Council. A haven of peace and tranquility for all.
The London Gardens Society party consisted of…
HRH the Duke of Edinburgh
Sue Medway MBE.. LGS Trustee & Director and Curator of Chelsea Physic Garden.
Sir Ghillean Prance FRS FLS FRSB.. LGS Trustee & Former Diector of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.
Nicholas Evans.. Worshipful Company of Gardeners
Andrew Babicz.. LGS Acting Chairman of Judges.
John Greco & Anne Gerrish.. LGS Co-Secretaries and Judges
Barnet Council party consisted of…
Zahra Beg.. The Worshipful Mayor of Barnet
Martin Russell DL FCT.. Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London.
It was an amazing afternoon on 23 June and all concerned at all venues had an amazing time, especially as HRH spoke to everyone and really seemed to enjoy the visit.
Caroline and myself just cannot get over how we came to have a member of the Royal Family visit our house and garden and at such a short time after we had gone to the Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on 6th May . HRH walked the short distance from our house to the Leopold Community Garden, speaking to neighbours / local priest / our local Florist on the way.. Then stopping to chat to everyone at our local pub “The Windsor Castle” (which went down very well with all).
All the hard work put in by everyone was a wonderful example of community spirit and i am sure that must have come across to HRH / The London Gardens Society and Barnet Council. We all hope it encourages others to do the same and we are so grateful they all came to see our endeavours and hoped they enjoyed themselves as much as we did..
