Nurture Nature Reaps Benefits in Radipole Gardens

Keen to know what’s happening in my surrounding area, I have to confess that I follow a lot of local Facebook groups.

On one particular page there was an ongoing, somewhat heated, debate about why hadn’t the council got out and cut the grass in community areas.

As it so happened, a few days previous I had been sat opposite the lady who is in charge of the Weymouth parks and she was on the phone to someone who was also questioning why the grass cutters weren’t out and about.

She was patiently trying to explain that due to the prolonged spell of wet weather we had been experiencing, she wasn’t going to set the big grass cutting machines onto the sodden ground as they would only have churned up the green area and compacted the soaked soil below.

As soon as the soil became dry enough she would send out the teams.

Which they did.

This morning, I took a slow stroll through our beautiful Radipole gardens and what an absolute picture they were.

So many others were enjoying them too, from sitting at a bench with their coffee and papers to a mystery guy surrounded by equipment sat on our Smiley log.

Had the grass been cut?

Nope…not yet.

Probably for a variety of reasons. Radipole gardens sits on an old estuary bed, being reclaimed land, so it holds the moisture longer and for weeks the ground had been literally squelchy and sodden underfoot.

But also, to let the crocus foliage die back naturally so they would come back and give a bigger and better display next year.

Did that spoil the magic of my meander through them?

Nope!

The grass was a kaleidoscope of daisies and celandines, purple honesty popped up here and there and  dandelions glowed golden in the summer’s light.

Nature was bursting at its seams and wildlife was making the most of it.

Just to prove how powerful these green spaces can be, how positive an effect they can have on us as human beings, everyone walking through the gardens were smiling, stopping and chatting, passing the time of day with fellow strollers.

One lovely fellow I was nattering to told me how he often parked nearby to walk through them as they lifted his spirits and set him up for the day.

I for one am so pleased that the grass cutters had stayed their  hand and let nature have her moment.

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Radipole Park and Gardens are being supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.