The Garden Museum

Having visited this museum a year ago before renovation, I wanted to return to see just how things had changed in its new guise as the "Garden Museum" . Upon entry ( a rather steep £6, I thought) ) I was immediately struck by how deserted it all now appeared. For all I could see before me in what was once the nave of this former parish church were a row of tables on one side and a gift shop on the other, leaving a vast empty space in the centre. All the permanent exhibits had been swept away upstairs to be displayed in a rather cramped balcony area. There you will find a number of ancient gardening tools and implements, paintings and photographs, old lawnmower publicity, together with a rather curious "vegetable lamb". But the number of exhibits here is small and thus it did not take long before I made my way downstairs where there was a special temporary exhibition devoted to Beth Chatto. On the way to the garden you will find an upmarket cafe serving vegetarian and organic foods and also a potting shed displaying advice on seasonal recipes. The garden itself adjoins a busy street ,but is well-presented. Here you will find a knot garden and also the tomb of Captain Bligh. Incidentally, the attendant on duty at the entrance desk happened to mention a DVD which we could watch by way of introduction should we wish. However, we were somewhat deterred by his observation that the film went on for too long, so we did not bother. All in all I was disappointed with the new look, but if you have a special interest in gardening then it would be worth a visit.