I have been rather dilatory of late and I apologise to my faithful followers for the lack of posts and updates from my garden and my visits to others. To be honest, apart from a few small tweaks here and there, my garden has now settled into a rhythm and ticks over through the seasons. However, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been busy!

Some of you may recall that I was briefly Vice Chairman of the Cheltenham Horticultural Society and was rather frustrated that my ideas for modernising and updating the society and its activities were continually thwarted and questioned. Although I was able to bring a lot to the Society in a short time; BBC Radio 4 Gardeners Question Time, plant sales linked to Open Gardens events, publicity from the Tools Shed recycling project with the Conservation Foundation and helping our Vice President, Chris Evans of The Butterfly Garden win the Daily Telegraph ‘Gardening Against the Odds’ award, revamping the Society website and getting Chris Beardshaw to talk about his Gold winning Chelsea garden and his new book, I realised that my future ‘gardening club’ activity lay elsewhere.

I have always admired the homespun charm of the Cottage Garden Society and eagerly read their quarterly magazine and take part in their excellent seed exchange. However, apart from a group local to South Gloucestershire and the towns in the Stroud valleys, they do not have a local presence in the Cotswolds. Even the Worcestershire Group has amalgamated with the Staffordshire Group and has now migrated northwards. So it occurred to me that they might like a new group in my part of Gloucestershire from Cheltenham north and east. They instantly agreed!

So, as a lot of my gardening activity is now going to be centred around the new Cotswold Group, I have decided to make my blog a record of how I get on starting a new gardening club (for that’s what it really is) and sharing my thoughts and concerns, triumphs (let’s hope there are some!) and disasters (let’s hope there are few!), with my followers, visitors and members of the group.

Onwards and upwards!