our first Bentley woodfair marquee !

After growing around 160 plants in pots, finding and making some banners and renting a marquee at the woodfair, we finally celebrated twenty years of Specialbranch trees with our first ever exhibitors stand at this huge event.
The marquee turned into a miniature woodland with the help of our potted trees. A separate table showed varieties of seed collected by us. The visiting public were so enthusiastic in understanding the importance of planting native hedgerows. They were also keen to grow their own trees from seed after our volunteers demonstrated how this could be done.
We sold enough trees to cover our costs, but, more importantly made so many new contacts, new friends and had so many new experiences. It was certainly an event to be repeated. 

Back at the nursery the combination of steady rain and mild weather have made weeding the no.1 priority. The seed gathering and processing is starting to gather pace, meaning even if it rains we can take shelter in the polytunnel and continue seed processing in the dry!