DAY 1.

After two aborted missions, the troops arrived at Saffron Walden on Saturday  to find the beds over

grown and looking like we hadn't been there. Darren & Roz had decided that the best starting point was to plant the lavender & sage around the "quiet area". While some people got to work on removing the  insidious geraniums, the rest of us dug trenches and planted the sage &  lavender. YES, WE ACTUALLY PLANTED SOMETHING!
We met Margaret, the new warden. Like Suzanne before her, she is very  positive about the project, and even offered to weed. She also plied us with  tea and coffee.

DAY 2.

We finished clearing the area along the west and planted grass seed to  hopefully keep the marauding geraniums at bay.
We discussed the next steps with Dave Nichols There is  money for the next planting phase, and he can  get us the materials for the path. He also told us the hostel is safe even  though the £250,000 renovation project is looking dicey on the thorny matter  of parking (as the hostel doesn't have it's own car park).
In all, I'm dead chuffed with the weekend, and you can see Darren's master  plan starting to take shape.
THE SEQUEL. Sunday 10th October 1999 - planting the climbing plants along the west wall.
In the new year, we plan to lay the paths to  delineate the different zones, using paving slabs instead of  gravel for less effort and greater practicality