I am not really a city girl so by Friday the bright lights and noisy nights were beginning to pall and we took ourselves off to Petersham Nurseries in Richmond.
You get the train to Richmond and then walk along the banks of the Thames, through fields of cows to Petersham road to the nursery. The whole effect is of stumbling across a wonderful ramshackle plant haven within a walled garden - there are pots of plants arranged on zinc-topped tables, more shabby chic benches and planters, a cafe, a shop and a restaurant. Flowers are picked from the cutting patch and arranged around the place, vintage pots are planted up with sedums and pansies, everywhere great thought and a clever eye has gone into arranging beautiful vignettes.
There is a lot of thought and a lot of work behind the casual beauty - when we were there someone was carefully picking mildewed leaves one by one off a weeping willow.
I found the prices to be OK - pretty much on a level with Dobies for plants. Not everyone feels the same though - I overheard a woman asking the price of an 8" Edwardian flower pot - she was told £7.50 and replied "Oh I wouldn't pay more than a pound for that - its second hand!"
2 comments:
Good day to you Jane, I am so pleased to hear you had such a good time of it in London. It doesn't matter where you go or how cheap something is you won't have to search for long before you find someone complaining, I always think thats its such a shame for them.
I know what you mean Bob. Though it is as often the rubbish that people will spend on that amazes me.
Tomorrow I am going to visit an event called The Travelling Souk at Kilbryde Castle near Dunblane - it is meant to be a collection of stalls selling high quality things that aren't generally available in the shops. I have a 30th birthday present to buy and I might even be organised and start looking for Christmas presents.
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