Wisley

On May Day to Wisley, just about two months after our last visit noticed at reference 1, to find the queue to get in pretty much back to the A3, almost to the point of being dangerous with us having to pull up a bit sharpish on the slip road. Car parks fuller than I had ever seen them and we pushed onto car park 3, ably looked after by a contingent of former Ghurkas.

From where we pushed on into the gardens, complete with marquees, craft stalls and a band.

I wondered about the number of visitors that day - the weather was spot on for such a place - and guessed of the order of 100,000. A trusty had told me that they certainly kept a daily count and they would know in the ticket office, but the people there were too busy for it to be fair to bother them with such a question. However, google suggests now that they do just about 1,000,000 in a year, so my guess was well over the top.

Cake (another almond flavoured tart, rather good) and water/coffee in the main restaurant, not too busy at around 1100 and then onto Battleston Hill, by way of the Bonsai Avenue just by the alpine glasshouses. The bonsai were just coming into leaf and looking as good as we have seen them for a while.

Plenty to see on Battleston Hill, what with the camelias, magnolias and rhododendrons. Not to mention the handsome stand of eucalyptus trees.

Euphorbias all over the place, plants which I am presently rather keen on. We even have some in our own garden.

Some handsome stands of bamboo, something we would have in our own garden if it was a good bit bigger than it is. But I did used to have some on the allotment, along with a pampas grass, another of my favourites.

More wondering on the way home about the merits of the RHS thinking big and running the gardens at such a pitch, with such high costs - for all the world as if they were Chessington World of Adventures. I imagine that in the olden days it was all far more relaxed, more about love of plants and battered tweeds than turnover and footfall - and I wonder whether we are paying too high a price for the flashy gardens we have now. Much the same as my unease about another of our favourite haunts, Hampton Court Palace.

From where the accounts were clearly the next stop, which google turned up pretty much at the top of the page from the search term 'wisley accounts', which I thought was pretty good. How much was due to what must be google extensive knowledge of my search interests?

That aside, it seems that in very round terms the RHS spends around £65m a year of which 15m was on gardens (mostly Wisley at a guess), 15m was on show and 15m was on stuff to sell in their shops. On the income side, a total of around £70m a year of which £20m was from the shops, £20m was from members and £20m was from shows. I am not a big fan of shows which I find too crowded for comfort, but I leave them aside. But does the RHS really have to be so into shopping, it not being as if they make a huge profit and it must be a significant drain on management? How much of that is food and drink, as opposed to plants and tasteful gifts? Could it not pull up a bit on the garden front, not have quite so many flashy displays?

PS: one of the things that they sell in the main restaurant is bread, bread which looks to have been baked on the premises. Only one kind on this day, a sort of large flat, crusty bloomer, maybe a fiver's worth. Plus stacks of the cloth lined baskets one uses for proving wet dough - the sort of dough I believe the French like. But the baskets did not seem to be the right shape for the bloomers, so not clear that they were not just decoration. For the avoidance of doubt, very were like the things described as '1.5kg Baton, Lined Wicker Banneton' at reference 2.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/second-coming.html.

Reference 2: http://bakerybits.co.uk/bakery-equipment/proving-baskets-and-cloths.html.

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