Shropshire 14.- Albrighton /Francis E Lester/a coffee and a bacon sandwich . /from Nye Bevan to Agatha Christie

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Gabby the motorhome stayed home today . We were just travelling a fairly short distance on a mission . The mission to go out and buy a climbing rose . Not just any climbing rose but a red one that would grace on of our garden walls . We had found the best rose nursery on the doorstep and set off . The weather was unkind . It rained off and on throughout the one hour journey . The sun never put an appearance in all day. It was a wonderful feeling again to get out even if it was not in our girl Gabby.

Roses - you either like them or loathe them . Many gardens in the 50's and 60's were full of standard roses with wonderful names . Peace a stalwart produced just after the war in 1946. Every garden had to have this yellow rose with its pink tinged petals . By the 1970's it was named the countries favourite rose . The Hybrid Tea rose Blue Moon with its lilac petals . So many evocative names - Fifty five roses with names starting with the Letter A. There were hundreds of them from Ena Harkness to Jennys Dream . From Nye Bevan to Agatha Christie . There were climbers and ramblers d. Old English Roses and everything in between.

Our destination was to be the David Austin Rose Nursery in Albrighton near Wolverhampton . Normally we would just rock up at a nursery armed with some cash and wander around . Covid had put paid to that . We had to book tickets . Free entry booked on the internet . We could chose a 3 and a half hour slot . Time for perusing , eating and buying a rose . The car park was quite full when we got there at around 9.45. Our slot was 9 - 12.30 and it had taken us a little while longer to get there . We were greeted by the car park attendant . A new position made necessary because of restrictions on numbers in the garden centre . The gatekeeper welcomed us with a cheery hello . Have you got tickets? Yes but we need to fumble around our phone to find them. As we searched the gatekeeper asked our names , found our booking and booked us in . Park anywhere he said .

The roses were everywhere . We saw them growing in the fields around the nursery . All in flower . The fences around the car park were covered with roses . Yellow single petalled almost wild roses clambering over the fences . All the colours were there . White climbers and ramblers , peach coloured ones , pink and red . It was all as pretty as a picture . The walls of the garden were covered with every concievable rose . They were nothing short of a show . How could you not like them ? We had picked the right time to come . June and July are the peak months for roses . I know why some gardeners do not like them . Thorns - they are deadly . All that pruning . But somehow the thorns did not seem to matter and pruning was at the back of our minds.

We went inside the gardens which were full of the roses . Everywhere you looked . Catmint grew underneath them . Clematis were used as companion plants . The colours were just stunning . We headed for the first few reading the labels . Yes there were a few we liked but we had not found the deep red we were looking for . Then out of the blue we spotted a climber . Or was it a rambler . It covered the pergolas and the fencing as it was draping its way along the ropes . A white climber . We had not been looking for a white rose but this one stood out. Perhaps its a good year for the roses or were we just lucky and saw this rose just at the right time . It was Frances E Lester or so the label told us . One of gardeners told us it was spectacular . It flowered just once in the summer but was a joy to see . It liked a sunny spot . That was it . We were hooked .

But first there was the cafe to frequent . We had to wait to be shown a table . Another one of those things we should be getting used to . Since Covid the chairs and tables are further apart and we have to wait for someone to allow us in and show us where to sit . Hands were sterilized and masks donned . A bacon sandwich on a sourbread was ordered , one capuccino and a double shot of espresso . We sat eating and drinking while the rain fell. When it stopped we rushed out purchased Francis E Lester and ran for the car .

It was a lovely day out . Very different . Different to last week and different to most gardens we have visited . And of course today we heard that Germany want to ban us Brits from going anywhere in Europe this summer . Perhaps we will have to yet again make the most of life at home .

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Comments

[Jackie]

Roses
I spent ages choosing a climbing rose! I ended up with A Shropshire Lad, a pink climbing, thornless rose with a wonderful scent, only grows 8ft tall with blooms all the way up!! I have a clematis. The President climbing though it!!! Really pleased with it - except when the blooms drop and leave petals everywhere!!! lol

[JenGog]

roses
Saw A Shropshire Lad . Might be one I get next . It was lovely seeing them in bloom Gave me a better idea of that I wanted . Your falling petals make me think of the Magnolia at the bottom of the garden . Massive tree , lovely when its out but what a job picking the petals up . Still we enjoy it whilst its out . Is Iceland still going ahead ? x