Witch Hazel

The Witch Hazel was out at the Wisley HQ of the Royal Horticultural Society today. There's usually not too much to see in the gardens in January so it's good to look around the glass house at this time of year. Or, at least, that's what we thought until we got there and found that, as has happened in the past few years, the hot house had been transformed in to a butterfly house for a month.

Great news, you would think, lots of blipping opportunities there. But it didn't look good when we saw the long rows of pushchairs parked outside. We were turned away from the entrance we'd normally use as they'd introduced a one way system. A man was remonstrating with the girl on the door,complaining that he couldn't get near the orchids.

Once inside we could see the problem - they were queuing to go round, with a long people-jam snaking around the whole greenhouse, so we did a quick heel flip and made for the door. There was lots of stuff to see outside, including this lovely Witch Hazel (another one here).

I've had kids and I think its great that these places are doing things for children, but I think they've gone too far. This is a plant collection, not a zoo. There are plenty of zoos and adventure playgrounds out there but this is a garden. I don't think there was much to enjoy for the mums and dads with small kids either. The RHS has become too greedy, too intent on appealing to everyone, too fixated on the market and making money. It really didn't used to be like this. Sorry, I hadn't meant this blip to turn in to a rant. I expect we'll pick our time and go back early on a weekday.