Tour springs to life

Michelle Gillan in her Alexandra garden, one of the 10 properties featured in the popular and...
Michelle Gillan in her Alexandra garden, one of the 10 properties featured in the popular and long-standing Blossom Festival Garden Tour. Photo by Lynda Van Kempen.
An event that literally puts the "blossom" right back into the blossom festival proved popular again this year, with the annual garden tour attracting about 600 people.

The event has been held as part of the festival for about 50 years - almost as long as the festival itself has been going.

Organised by Val Huddleston and Willie Donnelly, of Alexandra, this year's tour covered 10 gardens in and around Alexandra and Clyde.

It included a cooking demonstration by chef Richard Till, following the success of a similar venture at last year's garden tours, involving chef Al Brown.

"That's an extra little bonus, giving the people on the tour a chance to see a cooking demonstration as well as the variety of gardens," Mrs Huddleston said.

The gardens were open for viewing on Sunday and again yesterday, scoring fine weather both days.

Buses had been used to transport the garden enthusiasts from site to site, but in recent years the tour has switched to a more popular self-drive format.

Mrs Huddleston said about 300 people went on the tour yesterday, with a similar number on Sunday.

The organisers were indebted to the gardeners who agreed to "open their gates" to visitors, she said.

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