Annual National Members' Weekend 2020 and AGM

FRIDAY 24 APRIL

2pm onwards Plant Exchange, the 2020 list of offers is open until 29 February for members to place their bids

2-4.30pm Corydalis National Collection will be open to visitors:  short drive from Durham city or a 20-minute walk from the hotel.
4-6pm Talks by three Collection Holders about their present and planned Collections. Also: displays by Collection Holders and plants for sale.
7pm Dinner followed by a talk ‘Searching for the narrow endemic stonecrops’ by Ray Stephenson. He holds two National Collections: Sedum and Jovibarba bred by Cornelius Versteeg. Ray and his wife Joyce travel abroad regularly to locate and record sedums in their native habitats.

SATURDAY 25 APRIL

9.15am Collection holder presentation

10.30am AGM (All members can vote at the AGM) followed by lunch

1pm A visit to either Thornton Hall or Durham University Botanic Garden:

Thornton Hall, a Grade-I listed building, was built around 1550 by Ralph Tailbois. There were three distinct walled gardens laid out with Elizabethan raised borders and an avenue of lime trees marking the entrance to the hall.  There are stunning borders and collections of plants which have featured on BBCGardener’s World. 

Durham University Botanic Garden, occupies 10 hectares on the south side of the city. It is an academic resource supporting teaching and research. The garden grows plants from around the world, including in the North American arboretum and Himalayan dell. Conservation and biodiversity are important and the garden includes Magnesian Limestone flora to highlight this rare habitat in the North East. 

7pm Dinner followed by a talk ‘A blank canvas: derelict ground to beautiful garden’ by Susie White, a plantswoman, naturalist, author and photographer. For two years the English Garden magazine followed her as she created a new garden in Northumberland, having left the well-known Chesters Walled Garden, Northumberland, which she ran for 23 years. 

SUNDAY 26 APRIL
10am Optional visit to Crook Hall Gardens.  this charming garden is regarded as a hidden gem within Durham City.  Crook Hall is a medieval manor house surrounded by 10 romantic garden rooms.

 Added extra: The Harrogate Spring Flower Show will be held from 23rd-26th April so you may wish to add that to your itinerary.

 To book see booking form in the Autumn Journal or download a booking form.

Cancellation charges apply to bookings after 26 January 2020:

• Over 90 days - 10%
• 90-61 days - 25%
• 60-30 days - 40%
• 29-10 days 60%
• 9-3 days 80%
• 2 days - night of 98%

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