cut flower entries
Just back from the annual trip to the Dundee Flower and Food Festival, where I had mixed success. First prize for courgettes, but nothing for runner beans, chocolate muffins or oat biscuits. My other half did rather better with two firsts and two seconds for his beer (and won the beer trophy which is now gathering dust in my kitchen), and a first for his individual pepper quiche, but nothing for his bread. There were, however, a lot of entries for most of these categories so we’re not too downhearted, and resolved to ‘try better’ next year. Not that we’re competitive or anything …
Anyway, once we’d established whether and what we’d won, we were free to explore the whole of the festival – and there was a lot to see. Not only are there amazing exhibits (how do they get carrots to grow that long?!) but professional displays of everything from cacti to carnivorous plants. Many nurseries had a presence and were selling beautiful and unusual plants, but I managed to restrict myself to a small succulent, a persicaria and a couple of bronze fennel plants which I hope will survive long enough to go into the community garden herb bed next year.
There was also the usual food marquee, with demonstrations of cooking, and food and drink to sample and buy. Another big marquee, titled ‘woodlands 4 yew’ was devoted to outdoor/wild-life interests and you could talk to people about bats and bees and dragonflies, woods, wood-carving and nature reserves – to name but a few. Camperdown House itself was the venue for craft entries and flower arranging. Outside, around the marquees, there were lots of stalls selling garden-related stuff (bulbs, clothing, tools) and not so garden-related stuff (eg, soft toys stuffed to order), and more food – from burgers to ice-cream. And a beer tent. But rather than try to describe everything, here’s a slide-show of some of the photographs I took to give you a flavour of the day.
In all, it was a good day out and well worth the admission fee (£9/£12). But if you put in an entry it only costs £4 for 10 entries and you get a free day pass – and you might even win!
