Once a major hub for the medieval wine trade and a sea port of national importance, Winchelsea is now a peaceful and picturesque community of approximately 600 people, many of them keen gardeners. Happily, nine of these gardeners opened their gardens this year for the National Garden Scheme and, on Saturday 17th June, and MHS visited.

On arrival it rained a little but after weeks of no rain in here in Marden, that was a cause for celebration. Before long the sun shone and it was a delight to wander through this lovely small town, from garden to garden. The community even laid on refreshments for visitors. As for the gardens themselves, they were in many styles, both large and small, including secret walled gardens. The roses were particularly fine and we noticed that several of the gardens were growing the same plants, but using them in different ways which was interesting. Everybody said how much they'd enjoyed it and they liked the fact it was something out of the ordinary with so many different gardens to see. There were even a few stalls set up selling plants, English sparkling wine and crafts which were doing a good trade.

Here are some of the comments from the MHS visitors: “ the trip went off perfectly … lovely gardens, lovely Winchelsea village”, “beautiful gardens, especially the roses”, “what a lovely day it was”, “gardens to die for - really inspiring”, "can we go to more Open Garden events?" .

Huge thanks go to Judy Taylor for all her hard work and time organising this trip: researching the event, organising the coach, signing up members, making sure that the joining instructions got to everyone who needed them and, of course, ensuring that all went without hitch on the day.