The Garden at this time of year is left to itself, more or less, with a little tweak here and there. It’s holiday time and the gardeners drift off now and then to the coast or the countryside.

Work doesn’t stop entirely, though: weedy patches receive attention, the gardeners risking the wrath of red ants nesting below ground; the lawn is kept tidy by Geoff; the sales table top needed repair; Sarah and Helen attend to the vegetables while the rain and sun take turns in keeping us on our toes; there is the occasional dead-heading, but not too much, mindful of the lovely shapes of stalks and seed heads to come later in the year; and Nicola keeps order in the herb beds.

It’s a wonderful time to visit the walled garden and the museum temporary exhibition (until 1 September), Photosynthesis - which is all about the seasons and flowers.

Soon there will be plenty of jobs for us to tackle…the list is in our heads …but for now, for this summertime gardeners’ report, we hope you will enjoy these lovely photographs by Walled Garden gardener Philippa, taken on a hot Monday in August.

Photographs of planting in the walled garden