7.30am Saturday 21st July 2007, rendezvous at Cogenhoe; All parties arrived on time and Simon and I were not last, much to the chagrin of the rest of the party!

After several minutes of heckling everyone was seated and we embarked on our trip "up north"!

A smooth journey; M1 - M6 - with a stop off at the services for a little light relief and to purchase the new Harry Potter book - yippee!  We arrived at Tatton Park mid-morning.

We all set off in earnest to see what bargains we could pick up from the numerous vendors on site, armed with bags, boxes and those professionals amongst us who had their collapsible wheely-carts!  First port of call for Kevin Devine was the burger van outside - mind you, it was his birthday!

Mud, mud, glorious mud - first port of call for me was a Wellington Boot salesman!  Once my feet were fully ensconced within rose patterned rubber I was good to go!

The show was in full swing when we arrived, a band was playing in the bandstand in the centre of the showground which provided a nice musical accompaniment for viewing the many show gardens dotted around.  The weather was kind to us with the odd drizzle here and there, however there were plenty of different marquees dotted about to take shelter in and I managed to find the one that was handing out complimentary glasses of Sherry!  3 glasses later Simon dragged me out kicking and screaming and we found another marquee offering free samples of wine - the poor man just couldn't win, good job he's partial to me!

The heavens opened at about 3.45pm and luckily we had just gone into the grand floral marquee and so avoided the deluge.  There were lots of lovely things to look at in here from beautiful orchids to marvellous Bonsais, carnivorous plants to rambling roses and Clematis.  We felt that a little "retail therapy" was in order.

4.30pm back on the coach (which looked like a mobile Kew Gardens) we headed off even further "up north" to the village of Mawdsley, close to Ormskirk, to check in to our hotel for the evening.

Dinner was to be served at 7.00pm so we all trotted off with our luggage to find our rooms to get ourselves freshened up and ready for the evening.  The hotel was quite spread out so some guests were provided with a map and compass to help find the way!

Meanwhile Bobby "Crasher" Charlton was doing his utmost to wreck the entrance to the hotel car park and managed to smash one of the coach windows, a few black sacks and a roll of duct tape later and it was as good as new.

We had a lovely dinner in the restaurant that night, Kevin was presented with a slice of birthday cheesecake with a big household wax candle lit in the middle of it, we all sang (well some screeched) "Happy Birthday to you" much to his embarrassment which resulted in a barrage of expletives from his end of the dining table!

After dinner we all retired to the lounge for a few drinks.  After manoeuvring the sofas, chairs and tables so that we could all gather together a most enjoyable evening ensued full of joviality and mirth (read into that what you will)! 

8.00am Sunday 22nd July, full English breakfast, several rounds of toast and jam set us up for our onward journey.  Luggage loaded we headed off in our newly "air-conditioned" coach, black sacks flapping in the breeze to another coach depot nearby where a replacement coach awaited us.  Luggage, plants and passengers were transferred with military precision and we were soon on our way to our first Koi Dealership Holmeswood Koi. This was a lovely set-up with a nice large round pond with waterfall outside, several indoor tanks with Koi of varying sizes and a plant nursery too.  To the rear of the property was a huge natural pond which was teaming with wildlife.

From here we set off to Southport and paid a visit to the Botanical Gardens for half an hour which was really nice.  They had an aviary area filled with all sorts of birds from Budgies to Peacocks!  They also had Guinea Pigs and Chipmunks much to the delight of younger visitors to the gardens (and the not so young visitors in our partyThere were also boats and a little train which created a great deal of excitement to one of our party (mentioning no names - John Batten)!!!!

From here we headed off to Springbank Koi; a large industrial unit style establishment and home to some of the most beautiful Chagoi I have ever seen, which were wonderful to watch through the large windows set into the side of their pond.

Lunch time approached and we headed off to a lovely pub which was a converted windmill.  The majority of us tucked into a sumptuous Carvery of Beef, Pork and Gammon (am I making you hungry)? Followed down by a glass of wine (or two)! 

We then set off for our last stop, Infiltration, owned by Peter Waddington.  However, they had had some problems with white spot and were unable to sell that day and so this was somewhat disappointing.

The journey home; pleasantly full with Sunday Roast I think the majority of us napped most of the way (I know I did) and arrived back at Cogenhoe at around 6.45pm for the grand finale - Phil Inwood fell off his seat much to the hilarity of his family - thanks Phil, that really rounded off the day with a thump!

A wonderful trip, expertly organised by Bobby (thank you "Crasher" we hope you didn't get too much stick from your colleagues)?  Many thanks to Ann for her help and to Shirley "Raffle Queen of the BKKS"!
Also to our "Trolley Dolly" Simon, who provided service with a smile - I have him well trained.

Here's looking forward to the next one!

Cherryl Law
PRO
Nothants Section BKKS