The Herm Britain in Bloom campaign continues apace with plenty of work going on throughout the island. Islanders take a pride in where they live and are keeping the beaches and paths litter free. The un-announced judges came and went without us spotting them! We had a three week window when the judges would be arriving to visit various parts of the island which had been marked on a map previously sent to them. These areas ranged from the wooded area towards the south coast to the dune area behind Shell Beach. The date for the summer judging is the morning of Tuesday 5th August.
Herm’s head gardener, Brett Moore, is now doing his weekly garden tours. These take place very Tuesday starting at 11am from outside The Ship restaurant. If you are staying on Herm and want to take part in one of these walks please buy a ticket from the administration office. If you are coming from Guernsey you can get your ticket through the Trident ferry kiosk.
The gardening competition this year is ‘unusual containers’. Islanders have been set the challenge of finding the most unusual pot in which to plant their bedding plants. So if you walk past islanders gardens and see plants growing out of something strange you now know why!
A Britain in Bloom fund-raising initiative is the introduction of ‘Behind the scenes’ Herm garden walk. This is different from Brett’s garden tour and is led by Lesley Bailey. The walk is open to guests staying on Herm and lasts for 1 ½ hours. It goes through the gardener’s potting shed area where you can see where all the potting up of summer bedding plants goes on. The walk also includes visiting some private gardens and ends at Lower Belvoir House with afternoon tea in the garden. There are no set dates for this walk so if you are staying on the island look out for the notices in the hotel and on the self-catering notice-board. Dates will depend on the weather and availability of islanders who are involved!
The wild flowers on Herm are fantastic this year – must be the wet winter we had and the rain in May and early June. Here are a few of them:
 |
.jpg) |
| Common Valerian |
Red Campion |
 |
 |
| Vipers Bugloss |
Burnet Rose |
 |
 |
| Common Vetch |
Speedwell |
Moan corner!
One resident was horrified when taking a walk up the Grand Monceau to discover the remains of a picnic strewn around the grass. Paper plates, cups and general picnic rubbish had started blowing around but the litter louts had conveniently left the carrier bag (and receipt for their lunch) so he was able to collect the rubbish and dispose of it properly. Presumably these people chose the top of the Grand Monceau for their lunch because of the fantastic views! If all our visitors were as thoughtless as them would they still choose Herm for their picnics?