Beech Ladies

It was brought to my attention the other day that I may need to clarify what the Beech Ladies are. I was in conversation with a gentleman in White Waltham who had asked me what I did with my time, and I told him that one of the things I did was to run the Beech Ladies. He got rather excited and probed me for more information about the ‘Beech Ladies’ and I recalled for him some of our agenda, saying that Beech was the name of our village. His crestfallen face was a picture; he’d had visions of the Beech Ladies as ladies in bikinis on the beach! I think he may have had ‘The Calendar Girls’ on his mind; uummn, now there’s a thought…..

As soon as we reached Rotherfield Estate, the rain that had been falling that morning stopped and our July visit was one of perfection. We had a lovely trip onboard a tractor pulling carriage and again heard of the thoughtfulness of Sir James in his care of the environment with regard to farming. We were told of a pair of Red Kites that had taken up residency in the area and we were lucky enough to see them. Upon our return to the estate manager’s beautiful sunny garden, we were delighted to see a quintessential English tea table, set with steaming teapots, jugs of milk, jams and a pile of homemade mouth watering scones served with an abundance of cream, plus vases of pretty flowers laid along the table. The whole team and their magnificent Munsterlander dog did us proud, I’m sure this will stay in our minds as a very happy occasion.

We were back again, by popular demand, to Tylney Hall for August’s meeting and surprise, surprise, another scrumptious cream tea served by very attentive staff. After which we walked off the calories by exploring the historic grounds. The Mansion is a magnificent Grade II hotel and has manicured gardens totalling 66 acres, some of which were designed in the style of Gertrude Jekyll.

Our trip to Hinton Ampner was well worth the visit, the 20th-century gardens were delightful, having many different components and the September colouring was superb. Many of the plants were named which is of great benefit to gardeners. The elegant country house has fine collections of furniture, paintings and objets d’art. The restaurant served up delicious food and the shop had a great choice of gifts.

In October we shall welcome back Louis Atkinson, this time he will give a talk titled ‘A Day in the Life of a Shepherd’. If Louis’s last talk was anything to go by, I know we will be in for a treat. The AGM is in November and we always jolly it up with games and goodies. In December we always go somewhere for our Christmas Lunch and January sees the start of a new year and subs will be due. January’s meeting is waiting for confirmation but in February we have “Ruth Ellis – My Sister’s Secret Life”.

Anyone wishing to join us, please do, just contact Helen Lamb on 82323 or Sally Leech on 88358.