Earlier this year, the Suffolk group hosted the annual Plant Heritage Members’ Day on the weekend of 7th/8th June.  This was organised by a small team from the Suffolk group led by Gill Beardsworth in conjunction with Plant Heritage Central Office.

We started on the evening of Friday 5th June at the Guildhall  in Bury St Edmunds for an excellent meal followed by a talk by that all-round plantsman, Philip Oostenbrink who gave us food for thought and rounded off the evening.

Saturday 6th June saw us at a rather damp Helmingham Hall with volunteers guiding groups of members around the gardens, which were looking splendid.  More volunteers provided tea, coffee and biscuits before we moved to Framsden Hall Barn.  This venue was generously lent to us by Lord and Lady Tollemache. There we were able to browse the plant stalls set up by local nurseries and to admire this amazing 16th/17th century barn. A buffet lunch was followed by a stroll around the gardens at Framsden Hall and excellent talks from our three speakers: Sir Roderick Newton, Xa, Lady Tollemache and Robert Brett of the RHS.  The day ended with a rather wet distribution of the exchange plants, all prepared by the very busy Plant Exchange team.

Many Suffolk collection holders opened their gardens to visitors on Sunday 7th June, when the weather once more returned, briefly, to summer.

Thanks to Catherine Bacon for the photos and Gill Beardsworth for the account of proceedings.