When will Summer Arrive?

 The weather has been all over the place lately - including our very own tornado!

Here are some photos from our last event in 2022 - to remind us that summer should be here soon.

Musters Road Open Gardens is happening on Sunday June 16th [Father's Day] - there's still time for people to get involved - all gardens are good enough!

Some Autumn Colours at 185...

On a gloomy autumn day the garden was full of bright, autumn colours. 

Lots to look forward to for next year's event...

Musters Road Garden Floods...

It's a good job the event is next June and not last week!

Let's hope for a bit less rain over the winter...

Announcement of 2024 Event

The Musters Road Open Gardens event in 2024 will be on Sunday 16th June - Father's Day

If any new people on Musters Road who would like to take part – please get in touch with email Poppy at poppymosesson@hotmail.com

More details to follow.

Full list of Gardens!

Sunday 12 June 2022 1-6 pm 

Admission £4     CHILDREN FREE 

Pay and start at any open garden  - (look out for the balloons) 

In aid of The Friary (reg charity no 1056815) 

TEAS
(at 133, 274, the Methodist & the Baptist Churches) 

PLANT SALE  
(at 161) 

CHILDREN’S ACTIVITIES  
(at Baptist Church and Encanto trail available at each garden)

There may be some changes to arrangements prior to the event so some details here may not reflect these changes.  

39—Florrie & Steve 

A walled back garden which has 

evolved over 30 years from an old 

garage, tarmac path & minimalist 

lawn into a little paradise on 2 levels, 

connected by a small flight of gentle 

steps. The outstanding feature is the 

large, low-lying acer which resembles 

an eco-spaceship. Not wheelchair 

accessible 

West Bridgford Methodist Church 

Open for refreshments &  

activities available. Looking for-

ward to welcoming you.  

Wheelchair accessible 

Toilets available, including one with disabled access 

101—Helen & Nigel 

This garden has been created over 

the last 5 years, after over 20 years of 

neglect. A complete redesign was the 

only way forward.  We aimed to cre-

ate a relaxing & beautiful place, which 

is still evolving as we learn more & 

experiment with planting. 

Puppy friendly visitors/dogs wel-

come. Spoon carving and cakes for 

sale 

West Bridgford Baptist Church 

Open for children’s activities, 

refreshments and cakes. Declutter 

Sale (bits and bobs from around 

the building!) 

Musical entertainment: 

4pm:  The Tuneless Choir 

Toilets available 

133—David & Polly 

Afternoon teas         

Completely re-landscaped 10 years 

ago – a number of new trees were 

introduced & are now producing 

fruit at last. The contemporary water-feature 

is lit up at night - enhancing the relaxing 

atmosphere of the main patio area.  

The smaller patio area at the bottom of the 

garden catches the last rays of sun-

shine during the Summer months.  

Wheelchair - viewing from terrace 

only. 

145—Nicola & Paul 

Ice creams 

Our redesigned and landscaped 

garden was completed in October 

2021. We wanted to create a more 

contemporary (& low maintenance) 

garden but one which still retained 

some of the trees and mature 

shrubs. It also includes split level 

patio, raised flower beds and a 

wooden gazebo. 

157—Martin & Kate    

Mature garden with herbaceous

4 raised vegetable beds, alongside 

pretty ‘stepover’ apples & a ‘wild’ 

area.  Our pond doubles as the herons’ larder. 

SMALL POND.   

Musical entertainment:   

3pm: West Bridgford Social Singers 

Wheelchair accessible

161—Aaron & Poppy 

Established garden with lawn 

& borders planted with flowering 

shrubs & perennials. To the rear a 

vegetable plot, fruit trees & bushes.   

PLANT SALE 

Wheelchair - viewing from terrace 

only 

163—Dan & Kate 

Ice creams 

Established walled garden with per-

ennial borders arranged around 

fruit trees. 

Wheelchair - viewing 

from terrace only

185—Carol & John 

A medium sized garden, half 

with lawn that merges into a 

“woody“ part, and secluded 

seating area. Tree house accessible 

but take care, climb at own 

risk.  Work in progress wild 

flower meadow in the lawn 

sown last September. Lock-down 

parrot art on shed. 

SMALL POND  

2pm approx.: Live West African 

music by kora percussion trio . 

Not wheelchair accessible 

196— Liz & Jon 

Small garden crammed with 

busy beds. We have some 

well established trees and 

shrubs and lots of flowers. 

Garden messy but let us 

dazzle you with Pimm’s and 

cake!

208—Chris & Irene 

Unexpectedly large garden. 

Formal terracing at the top 

leads to lawns & pathways, 

under arches to a wilder ar-

ea with fruit trees. Lots of 

paths, pots, shrubs, trees, 

flowers, fountains & seats.  

Not wheelchair accessible 

227—Chris & Helen 

Small, minimal upkeep garden 

created in 2009. The front gar-

den is home to our resident res-

in sheep. There is a circular lawn

and a raised bed of shade-tolerant 

plants. This Spring we added a peb-

bled area which features ferns and 

hostas. In the rear garden there are 

espalier fruit trees and a Japanese-

influenced raised patio bed. Most 

plants can be identified. 

Wheel-chair - viewing from terrace only

242—Jane & Graham 

Mature family garden with a little 

bit of everything: shrub and flower 

borders, small veg patch, fruit, 

herbs and areas to relax in the sun 

or shade. We make no excuses for 

the lawn, however and continue to 

battle with ants, sundry weeds and, 

most recently, the ‘fallout’ from  a 

week of dog minding! 

274—Cathy & Nick 

Afternoon teas  

Established garden with 

fruit trees, borders and games. The 

owners had intended to do more 

gardening but were too easily dis-

tracted by the amazing views of the 

city. Not wheelchair accessible 

Jesse Gray School 

This year sees the start of  re-

growing in the garden with the 

children.  They have been learning 

about sowing, transplanting, and 

looking after flower and vegetable 

plants to put into raised beds and 

borders. We are trying to grow a 

wider variety of flowers to encourage 

pollinators. 

Wheelchair—viewing from car 

park, good views of garden 

319—Sue & Mike 

A garden developed by the present 

owners over the last fifty years with 

lawns to front and rear, shrubs, 

evergreens and flower beds.   There is 

a small fruit garden currently planted 

with raspberries, strawberries 

and loganberries. 

321—Kirsty & Steve 

A mature garden cut into a slope 

with large lawn, veg patch, wide 

borders, secret path.  No dogs due to 

other pets in the garden. 

Not wheelchair accessible. 

Announcement of 2022 Event...

 The Musters Road Open Garden's event will be on Sunday 12th June.

"So this is a date for the diary and a shout-out to people on Musters Road who would like to take part – get in touch with Katy Allen on 07894 718333 or email katy.allen@ntlworld.com.

Everyone welcome!"

More details to follow - in the meantime here's some information from Nottingham Local News

NOT LONG NOW!

It's now under six weeks until the Musters Road Open Gardens afternoon - I hope the weather improves and is kind on the day! We're beginning to publicise the event more actively now.

We expect to have about 15 gardens opening in all, all sorts - large, small, family gardens, quirky gardens, colourful and beautiful gardens, together with Jesse Gray School garden and the Friary Allotment. This year we are delighted that the Baptist Church and the Methodist Church, both of which are on Musters Road, are supporting the event on the day - it will be a lot of fun!

Announcement of 2019 Event...

The Musters Road Open Garden's event will be on Sunday 16th June.

More details to follow - but it's Father's Day - so we look forward to seeing lots of  Dad's after they've had their special lunch!

Refugee Week

One of our local charities this year is the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum - so it seems particularly appropriate that this week leading up to our Open Gardens is Refugee Week. There are lots of events during the week in Nottingham, celebrating the role of refugees and promoting understanding of the issues.

Click here for more details

It's Official...

The bunting is out - less than One week to go!!

FREE Shuttle Service - Trial run...

STOP PRESS...

This year there will be a 'shuttle' service up and down the road on a continuous basis between 2-4 pm.  

This will be a 6-seater taxi and will run from The Friary to Kingston Road allotments, up to Jesse Gray and back again.  

It's a bit of an experiment to see how popular it is and also how much it raises because, although 'free', we will have a bucket for donations in the vehicle!  :)

Some Photos from No. 321...

It's a red flower - who knows what it is? Answers below please...

The trampolines are out early this year...

Donation Towards Green Line Information Boards...

Musters Road Open Gardens donated money from last year's event to the Friends of the Green Line, which works in collaboration with the Notts Wildlife Trust. 

The money went towards 2 ladder boards, which give information about the Green Line, one at the Melton Rd entrance, and one by the railway bridge on Devonshire Road. 

John and Carol Williams represented the open garden's team on the day the boards were put up, in March 2016.

Announcement of 2016 Event...

The Musters Road Open Garden's event for 2016 will be on Sunday 26th June between 1pm and 6pm.

Entry will cost the same as last year - £3 per person - children are free!

It's getting closer - and we have a new competition!

Make a date for Sunday 28th June - Musters Road Open Gardens is back 1pm-6pm...

This year we have a Container/hanging basket competition @126
Maggie will be 'hosting' a competition of mini gardens in tubs, containers, hanging baskets.  The idea is that it is an opportunity for anyone on the road who can't open their garden to get involved in a different way - it will also be for children.  

If you want to enter just bring your container to Maggie's on Saturday 27th June between 2-5 pm and she will display them in her front garden for people to look round on the Sunday.  

There will be 3 categories: under 11, 11-16 and Adult.  

There will be a voluntary £1 donation to enter and when you take them on the Saturday just let Maggie know if you want to pick them up again at the end of the day, or are willing to donate them to be sold for the charity...  

Throughout the Open Gardens afternoon Maggie will take payments for any that are to be sold, with the judging of the winners to be done at 5 pm (there will be prizes TBC!), after which people can come to collect their containers and take them away. 

It's on SUNDAY!!!!

Many thanks to our friends at The Nottingham Post for the article on Musters Road Open Gardens in the Monday edition of the paper.

Not so many thanks for printing that it's taking place on Saturday!

Please come to see us and our 15 beautiful gardens from 2 pm on SUNDAY 8 September.

Please don't come on Saturday because all you will find is several bedraggled and exhausted gardeners, frantically weeding and primping their gardens (and most definitely NOT hurriedly planting last minute dahlias in full flower, just purchased from the garden centre, in a pathetic attempt to bring some colour into their drought-ridden herbaceous borders).

See you SUNDAY!

The Good Health Garden - 200 Musters Road

A hive of activity you can say; members of the West Bridgford Skills exchange, The Abundance Project Totally Locally and local residents have been dropping off apples for the apple pressing on Sunday,
lavender bags (with lavender donated by the nearby allotments) have been made a local coffee group.
Black berries and red currants appeared on the door step today, which are now bubbling away to make redcurrant jelly and blackberry cordial, cough syrups and totally locally fruity babies (as opposed to jelly babies)

Local artist Cara Holland designed a pictorial treasure hunt, to match 12 common  ailments with the remedies from the garden.  Come and find out what herb tea can help with your sore throat, stings and baldness.  

Thank you Kate for organizing the Open Gardens, so many people are looking forward to getting stuck in and raise funds for the Friary Drop In centre; 

200 Musters Road - Musters Road ‘Physic Garden' Healing starts in the garden.

Calls have been coming in to The Abundance Group 'HQ' to say that apples in the area are dropping fast.
Pickers, ladders and crates to the ready as we are off to collect the apples to press for juice at the Open Gardens.

Members of the West Bridgford Skills Exchange: have volunteered in droves to come and help, wash, clean, peel and press so that any of you who would like the fresh taste of Muster Road's abundance, can visit 200 and experience the abundance our gardens give us, be that a refreshing apple juice  or jams, cordials, and fruit sweeties made for you beforehand.

Aromatherapist, Anne Turner- Harrod has used plants from the garden to make soaps and massage oils. For those of you who would like a hand massage or hand made products like bees wax lip balm (from bees out of this garden) feel free to take a few minutes out of your visit and spoil yourself. Proceeds will go to the Friary Drop in Center.

Herbalist: Katherine Bellchambers-Wilson will be on hand to
point out the healing properties and uses of common trees, shrubs, fruit and vegetables.

Hoping that when you leave this garden, you are inspired through body and soul

Update ....

So, here we are .... two and a half weeks to go and can the gardens hold out until 8 September after this crazy year of alternating ice age/heat wave?  Here's hoping!

This year at Musters Road Open Gardens we are delighted that there will be 15 garden venues for you to enjoy - 13 private gardens, the children's gardens at Jesse Gray Primary School and The Friary's allotments on Kingston Road. 

Of the 4 new private gardens joining us this year, one is particularly interesting - it's an urban permaculture garden with many sustainable features, including the on site management of all rainfall. 4 green roofs are used for experimental food growing. This small permaculture garden is dedicated to organic food production and biodiversity - even the poo from the bunnies is used to fertilise the green beds! The owners think they have invented the first horizontal water butt and planter combo - they look forward to visitors sharing their own ingenious inventions.

We very much hope you will be able to join us on 8 September, between 2-6 pm, to check out this and our other Open Gardens - not to mention the Local History Walk, Human Jukebox, Physic Garden with on site herbalist ........ and TWO (count 'em) tea venues.  You will not go hungry.

Urban permaculture garden:
 

 

 

Ready Steady Weed!

Back from holiday, so starting to get the garden ready for opening on the 8th September

Some colour with the crocosmias - hope it's going to last.

Some massive squash - we're not sure what variety.

One of our scented geraniums.

Announcement of This Year's Event

The Musters Road Open Garden's event will be on Sunday 8th September between 2pm and 6pm.

Entry will cost the same as last year - £3 per person / £5 per couple - children are free!

HOW MUCH?!

We had a wonderful day for Musters Road Open Gardens - fantastic weather and huge numbers of visitors, many of whom commented on the great atmosphere and the friendly welcome they received from the Garden Hosts.

Most importantly, we raised £2,361 for our charity, The Friary Drop-In Centre which does valuable work with homeless people in the city.

Here are some pictures of the day to give you a flavour if you weren't able to join us.

 

Dahlias .... and a few more

 

A librarian's garden

 

Afternoon tea was VERY popular

 



 

oh ... another dahlia

 

 

Many, many thanks if you did come along and contribute to the magnificent total we raised.  We enjoyed every minute and hope you did too.

 

 

Musters Road Open Gardeners

The Numbers Are Still Coming In!

With 300+ visitors the Musters Road Open Gardens event was blessed with some wonderful September weather!

We'll keep you updated with the total amount raised - but it's definately £1,000+

A huge thank you to everyone involved - especially the waitresses at 133! And to Kate for organising the whole event in the first place...

Information about all of the gardens has now been published on this website - just click on "The Gardens" tab above...

PLEASE NOTE: WE HAVE YOUR BEST INTERESTS AT HEART AND, IN ORDER FOR YOU TO BUILD UP AN APPETITE FOR TEA AT NO. 133 (OR TO BURN OFF WHAT YOU’VE ALREADY CONSUMED) THERE IS AN APPROXIMATE 10 MINUTE WALK BETWEEN NOs 39 & 43 AND THE REMAINING GARDENS.

Run, walk, cycle, drive or wheel yourself — or make it more interesting by joining Peter Hammond of West Bridgford Local History Society on a guided walk of this stretch of Musters Road (approx. 45 mins).

Walk 1 leaves The Friary at 2.45 pm

Walk 2 returns from the corner of Devonshire Rd at 4.30 pm.

Peter will bring to life some local history specific to the road and its role in West Bridgford’s development...

Apple Pressing at 200 Musters Road

A few years ago we set up the Abundance Group , especially when we found out that there were so many apple, pear, plum and cherry trees planted around us in Musters Road.
The idea behind the project is that if anyone has a fruit tree that needs harvesting, we come as a group to pick your fruit, give to you what you want, tidy up and take the rest with us to divide up. Some will go to the pickers, some of it will go to people who will turn it into jams, chutneys, pies, juices etc and some will go to the Abundance shop on Clumber Road. (help yourselves but please leave a donation)

The apples this year are not very good and plentiful as the spring was very wet and the bees have therefore not been able to pollinate the blossom very well. We do have a variety of apples donated by local people, which we will turn into juice for you to try. We will put the freshly pressed juice into sterilised bottles (donated by Taste on Clumber Road) so you can take a bottle home with you. Any donations will go to the Friary Drop in Centre.

History Walks by Peter Hammond

On the day we have organised 2 guided local history walks from The Friary to the corner of Devonshire Rd, and back again. Peter Hammond of the West Bridgford History Society is extremely well informed about WB's history and the walks will take 30/45 mins. The first walk, leaving The Friary, will leave at 2.45 pm, and the return walk, leaving the corner of Devonshire Rd and going back to The Friary, will leave at 4.30

The final countdown!

With just over 2 weeks to go we can announce that we have 12 gardens opening along Musters Road for Open Gardens on Sunday 9 September - including the children's raised vegetable beds at Jesse Gray School and The Friary's allotment on Kingstson Road (just off Musters Road, alongside no. 200).  There will also be one garden dedicated to children's games and activities (including a pedal-powered smoothie maker!).  Several of the open gardens will have plant, book and CD stalls and there will be afternoon teas available too.  What more could you possibly ask for? 

So, please join us between 2 - 6 pm on Sunday 9 September.  Start at any garden (all open gardens will have balloons outside) and the entry fee you pay there (£3 per person, or £5 for 2, children free) will get you into all the rest of the gardens.

All the money raised by the event will go to The Friary Drop-In - also based on Musters Road - and there will be a Harvest Thanksgiving Service at the Friary's allotment at 6 pm to mark the end of the day.

Beekeeping at 200 Musters Road

On the day we will have a stall to promote the great work Friends of the Earth is doing with their Bee Cause as well as promoting beekeeping in West Bridgford

We will have bee games, hand out wild flower seeds which attract bees and other pollinators, promote our next beekeeping course as well as promoting BIBBA.

Preparations ....

There's nothing more satisfying than doing a spot of weeding ........


Unless, of course, it's getting someone else to do a spot of weeding for you ....

An appeal!

Planning for the Musters Road Open Gardens event on 9 September is moving on apace and we now have 8 - possibly 9! - gardens opening as well as the children's raised beds at the front of Jesse Grey school which is a fantastic addition to the afternoon. 

However .... by far the majority of gardens opening are in the section of Musters Road between the Melton Road traffic lights and Jesse Grey school.  It would be wonderful if more of our neighbours in the stretch of road leading to Trent Bridge would join us and make the afternoon a truly All-Musters Road event!

Please - if you live on that part of the road - get in touch and join us!

Flickr Photo Group for Musters Road Open Gardens

There's a photo group to upload photos' too at - http://www.flickr.com/groups/2003571@N23/

Not much there at the moment - but we plan to add photos through the summer months to get a real sense of the gardens leading up to September 9th.

Amalfi Coast - Gardening Report...

I'm not sure the Musters Road Open Gardens will be able to offer such a splendid Bougainvillea as this beauty on the Amalfi Coast, but there will be much else to tempt and interest gardeners and non-gardeners alike. 

In this area of Italy, currently being visited by one of our 'Open Gardeners', the predominant horticultural feature are the huge and plentiful local lemons - the trees are grown in terraces up and down the steep slopes along the coastline, and are absolutely groaning with fruit - unlike this gardener's lemon 'twig', currently approximately all of 15 inches tall and sporting one and a half golf-ball sized, green fruits! 

A triumph of gardening hope over expectation! We look forward to you visiting us on 9 September.

Open Gardens - West Bridgford - Musters Road

The flowers are going wild @133!

Water feature needs turning on...

Hello World... Initial Press Release

Musters Road Open Gardens

 Looking round other people’s gardens is one of the nicest ways to spend a Sunday afternoon – whether the main purpose is to borrow some planting ideas, enjoy chatting with other gardeners, take some gentle exercise and refreshment or, let’s be honest, be a bit nosey! The open gardens concept certainly isn’t new to West Bridgford – Lady Bay and Selby Road have well-established open weekends  - but now it’s the turn of some of Musters Road’s residents to reveal all and – they hope – raise a decent sum of money for a local charity.

The date is September 9^th (put it in your diaries now!) and there will be a dozen or so gardens opening up – big, small and somewhere in between, with the added attraction of cream teas, home –made cakes, a plant stall, fruit pressing, a wandering minstrel and games and activities to keep the children happy. The gardens will be open from 2 - 6 pm and it won’t cost a fortune – just £3 per person or £5 for two (no charge for children) will get you into all the gardens and every penny raised will go to the Friary Drop-in Centre on Musters Rd, which does such a brilliant job supporting people who are suffering hardship because of homelessness, unemployment or other personal crises.

More information is available on this website and on Facebook and twitter - details to follow.

 If you'd like to volunteer your garden or your help, email Kate Lewis at katelewis64@hotmail.com