The Donkey Parade at Weston-super-Mare

It was a great idea in theory. Local business's paid £500 each to decorate and sponsor resin donkeys which were to be turned into little works of art and placed in the streets around the town.

There have been similar projects with lions in Bath, dragons in Newport, rhinos
in Chester, elephants in Norwich and penguins in Liverpool.

They are all street art and suffered some vandalism but in Weston it's been so extreme that they had to remove the donkeys from the streets for their own safety. On the first week-end they were put out they were attacked. One was stolen and later dumped with it's legs ripped off, another was thrown in a skip and another had it's tail cut off.

The poor donkeys had to go into hiding, some went home to their sponsors, others are cowering in shop windows until they may a brief appearance on the pier to be auctioned off for charity. 

hiding in Marks and Spencers

This one went to Specsavers.............

lurking in a department store

And taking refuge in the local newspaper office...................

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National Garden Schemes Yellow Book

It's the NGS, the National Gardens Scheme.

Volunteers offer to open their gardens for the public to visit for a small entrance fee which goes to charity. They produce the yellow book with all the gardens and dates they are open. It's a big honour to be chosen because they get lots of people wanting to do it but only select a few. They come and inspect your garden and are on the look-out for unusual plants, designs etc.

My friend Patsy from Weston has been chosen this year, She's got an amazing garden, like a topical jungle , full of plants form her native Jamaica. She had her first open day today, complete with scones and tea!

They featured her garden in the local paper.

Patsy's Garden

These open ideas are a good idea for a day out, if you love gardens, have a look in the Yellow Book for local ones.

Yellow Book

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