YARLINGTON HOUSE PLANT SALE

Disaster has struck! And it’s of titanic proportions as these things inevitably are when they happen. It’s not a storm in a tea cup, more like a tempest in a tureen. In the same way as global banking has gone into melt-down so too has our oven. The door handle unable to withstand the strain of the over-heated household economy has totally cracked and broken off. In order to continue our pizza free diet regime, the other half has had to rig up a temporary solution using a coat hanger until a replacement oven is found.

Global meltdown

Unlike the Bank of England, I can’t just print off several million quid when times are hard. My computer scanner and HP printer wouldn’t be much cop in running off a few extra tenners to tide us over. So, taking a leaf out of the Chancellor’s book, I’ve had to mount a daring raid on my ‘pension’ fund to rustle up the £500 or so pounds needed in order to keep us cooking on gas.

Raiding savings for boring things like ovens is not my idea of fun especially when that cash could be better spent on other stuff such as holidays or my garden. To help me get over this trauma, I bribe the other half with promises of beer and curry so that he’ll drive me to all the way to Somerset for a plant sale.

Yarlington House, an out of the way country estate not far from Wincanton just happened to be hosting one of those specialist plant sales I like to visit. “Nice day for a drive in the country dear” I say to the other half, whose idea of heaven is watching re-runs of Top Gear and not browsing through potted plants.

Yarlington House

It wasn’t a wasted journey either as the plant sale was probably one of the best one’s visited this year. There were so many stalls assembled in the courtyard, I didn’t know where to start looking first. Row upon row of potted plants and all very reasonably priced – what an idyllic way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Plant stalls dotted around the courtyard

Nothing beats a good plant sale

Visiting country houses to buy plants also gives you an opportunity to have a good nose round as many include entry to their gardens in the ticket price and we were able to enjoy a pleasant wander around the kitchen garden and wooded area behind the house.

Flower covered pergola on back lawn

The kitchen garden was vast. A walled enclosure with planting beds split into 4 distinct areas. I'd love to have something similar where you can really go mad growing all sorts of fruit and vegetables.