Hints Flower Festivals

 Hints Open Gardens 2000 was its usual blaze of colour and hive of activity. The first of the two days was bright but windy and wet at times, but the Monday may turn out to be one of the best days of the summer.

The village was beautifully dressed, and often, even the gardens which were not "open" were a picture in their own right

 St Bartholemew’s Church is beautiful on the most ordinary of days, but for this festival it was a real spectacle - both inside and out. Working to a theme of "famous people" the inside of the church was not only full of colour, but also full of the scent of flowers.

 The festival atmosphere was complimented by the playing of Amington Band, and their selection of traditional and modern music could be heard at both ends of the village.

 For some of us, the colour, the sounds, and the warm sun, were just too much. We had to find a quite place to sit and relax a little.

As usual, there were opportunities to simply enjoy browsing, or to browse and buy. Here a green fingered vendor works from a small stall in a really picturesque corner of the village.

In some gardens ingenious techniques had been used to make use of every inch of space, and here, a couple of visitors admire one corner in just such a place.

In this south facing corner, the slope, a rockery, a waterfall and pond, combine with carefully selected plants to make the very best show.

And the setting of the corner continues along this southfacing bank making not just a very lovely garden, but also providing a haven for local birds and other wildlife.

A justifiably proud gardener points to a favourite flower, and at the same time provides an indication of the scale of his work.