THE sun may have stopped shining on Sunday 5 June but it did not stop over 200 people coming to Skenfrith to buy tickets for the Open Gardens Day.

Hywe Jones and Charlie Kensginton were kept busy on the gate from just before 11.00 a.m. the official opening.

Over 14 private gardens were open but the two most popular venues at the start were the refreshment gardens: the Old Vicarage, home of Annie Peacock whose kitchen was invaded by people seeking shelter from the rain from about 10.50 and Orchard Cottage where Lin and Norman Cooke were hard put to meet the demand for tea and cakes in their house surrounded by clematis and roses.

Michelle the gardener for the Bell Inn fielded questions all day in the organic vegetable garden belonging to the popular hotel.

Large gardens, such as that at Towerhill Cottage and the Whitehouse were well visited along with the smaller village gardens such as No 6 Orchard Cottage with a centrepiece of courgettes and Frances David's own very colourful flower garden at the Moat House.

The plant stall with a rota of helpers through the day, starting with Diana Stainforth from Grosmont and finishing with Pam Pugh from Hilston, took over £100 which helped to make up a grand total of £1,250 towards the fixing of St Bridget's Church.

The Friends of St Bridget's Skenfrith and Frances David, the organisers of the day, were well pleased with the result.