Little Common's open gardens

Like the many visitors admiring the garden of her Peartree Lane home, Barbara Lenny had been shrugging off yet another of the downpours which are a feature of the summer of 2007.

One of four lovely gardens in west Bexhill open in aid of St Michael's Hospice, it was drawing the usual devoted band of followers, despite the weather.

Barbara Lenny and Marion Longhurst describe theirs as a "plantswoman's garden."

Barbara says: ""We DO like plants."

The division of labour is simple. "I work in the potting shed and produce the seedlings and Marion plants them."

The system is highly successful, as Tuesday's shower-dodgers found.

Pride of place in the garden goes to its magnificent Cornus Kousa. Like many things in a topsy-turvey season, it has been delayed by the weather. But the first of its magnificent white blooms were appearing.

Also much admired were Barbara and Marion's Smoke Bush and Marion's sweet peas.

Iris Gillett and her fellow musicians were providing live music as visitors took coffee and cakes on the lawn at Friars Charm, Maple Walk, the home of Wendy and George Rogers.

The garden has undergone many changes since the couple sold off a third and built a new home on the remainder.

Some 20 tonnes of stone went into the creation of the step which now lead to the cascade and pond which are a popular feature of the garden.

If there was sadness behind Nathan Preece's decision to press ahead with opening his garden two doors away it did nothing to dampen his visitors' enjoyment.

"I lost my wife in March but decided to open the garden anyway."

The couple had worked for the past five years since moving from Herbrand Walk, creating new beds and restoring what had become a neglected garden.

The beds, now maturing nicely, lead the eye down the lengthy lawn to a point where the kitchen garden begins to blend seamlessly with the flower garden.

Asparagus towers seven feet high. Well-nourished rhubarb prospers.

But there is work still to be done. The couple had planned to transform a sunken area at the end of the garden. One of the challenges will be to disguise the tank traps dumped there by Canadian troops after stripping them from the beach at the end of the war!

Yet more visitors - nothing - deters faithful followers of the open gardens scheme - flocked to 41a Barnhorn Road, where another series of floral delights awaited.

John Dowling