Between blotch and blok

On Sunday, we went to the HDRA organic gardens at Ryton for their apple day. It's not often you arrive at a tourist attraction an hour after it's opened and find the car park full to busting (when we left we saw the lines of cars parked on the verges outside, too). It didn't bode well: crowding looked probable. Actually, apart from the queues at the apple tasting, it was blissfully empty: the hordes simply vanished into the various gardens. It was about 2.30, when it suddenly occurred to us that we hadn't heard the chirp of a mobile 'phone all day. Then several chirped and spoiled that thought.

We wandered around in the rather chill wind, admiring the gardens, and the reed bed sewage system, and the orchards. We had lunch inside the enclosed fruit garden, surrounded by raspberries, and blackberries, and out of the wind. M looked after LL whilst she had her face painted and we flapped off to a talk on how to grow apple and pear trees organically. Useful, informative, if a little gruesome (there were some pictures of some dreadfully diseased apple trees and apples). Wandered around failing to find LL and M and then did find them, by dint of going into the shop (we'd tried the café first: we know our daughter). They'd been round the Vegetable Kingdom and took us to see the highlights. We're not always convinced by interactive displays (the thinking seems to be that making something interactive makes it good per se, rather than concentrating on getting content and method of delivery to work in harmony). This was great tho' and LL had found lots of computer "games" a rather fine snakes and ladder type board game and lots of other things. It looks superb, and is still in the everything is new and complete and working state that other exhibits haven't been. We'll revisit when she's bigger and can actually read some of the information. We had tea, shopped, went home just before the closing time rush.

It was hugely worthwhile. The cook's garden and the organic allotment were both particularly inspiring. The information on training apple trees has convinced us to put some apples on the allotment: cookers mainly, since organic cooking apples seem so much harder to find than eaters.