Roses at Rogers

Last weekend was the British Isles Breeders and Growers Rose Festival in Ryedale held at RV Rogers just outside Pickering. It was a lovely summer's day and the roses all looked a picture. I took my Dad along to see the 150 or so roses which were on offer. The Calender Girls were there too as they had a rose named after them. The Ryedale Rose was given by a kind couple from Sheffield and there was a prize giving. All a lot of work for David Wilce the Chairman. The presenttaion lasted around 90 minutes.The champion winner had come all the way from Andover and was quite a young chap. Along with a magnificent cup I had given a prize of a free 2 night stay here with us .No doubt I will be hearing from him shortly. He said it would make a nice change as he usually attended these shows and slept in his camper van. My Dad got talking to Ryedale's youngest Chairman of the Council Luke Ives.My Dad's maternal side of the family were from Norton so Luke would get quite a history lesson I think We had a lovely lunch and Jonathan who is always a obliging member of staff was on hand.My Dad really enjoyed his chat with him. We had a lovely lunch whilst the jazz band played in the background. Oh so English country garden with lady artists donning their straw hats to paint their corner of the day. This is the second year that it has been held.It will continue -so a date for your diary next year.

A busy bee day

It was time to check on the bees again. I doubt we will get a tonne of honey this year.I needed to be into the hives to see what was happening. The bees are quite happy for me to look in on a warm day as they are too busy to bother about me as they are bringing the nectar back to feed the young in the hive. I managed to take a few photos but with a veil on and my gloves and suit it didnt give me much room to move about. I tried to take a "selfie" but I missed totally. We have 5 hives 4 are in a field here and one over on the main farm. We will not be eating any honey from them this year I doubt as they are busy getting established. My guests thought it was a spaceman coming through the gate. A relation is joining them tomorrow and he keeps bees so we are going to get him to take a look at them as I have spent ages looking for the queen. Talk about a needle in a haystack it is the queen in the beehive I can't find

Our Ryedale Rose

I came up with this crazy idea.It turned out not to be so crazy in the end. t I thought wouldn't it be good to have a yellow rose to celebrate Le Tour Yorkshire -the cycling event which will be coming to Yorkshire in a couple of days time. We have the most amazing nurseries in Ryedale. Apart from fruit trees and plants R VRogers of Pickering are rosegrowers. I was lucky enough to have lots of support from a team of people who like me want to keep Ryedale on the map. Craig Nattress works for tourism at Ryedale District Council and took the matter up with David Wilce who is the Chairman of the British Isles Rose Breeders. To cut a long story short the outcome was that on 7th June a rose was named A Rose for Ryedale and you will see me holding the rose which was presented to, I guess the youngest Mayor I have ever come across.Not only is it a rose but it is a yellow rose. Ian Rogers of R V Rogers Roses of Pickering has kindly agreed to support us and is going to grow it at the nursery and you will be able to buy them there. For each rose which is sold £2 will be given to Ryedale Special Needs Families Charity. Next weekend the 12 13th July over 150 rose breeders will gather at Pickering at Rogers Roses and this is open to the public and well worth a visit and it is free entry too .I do hope my Dad will be well enough to go as he loves his roses. I was hoping to buy some this year for his garden but it will be 2015 before they go on sale.