Wildlife pond

One of the most successful new areas in St John’s Garden is the wildlife pond. Water level is about a meter above ground level, with the preformed pond surrounded by a stone wall and what looks like sand bags except full of soil. The marginal plants are planted in slits in the bags and now nearly disguise them. I’m so taken with the plant in the thumbnail that I have planted a few around our pond in Oxfordshire .

We had a lovely lunch in a new Eastern Mediterranean restaurant that we can see from our balcony. In the evening we went to the (posh) house of a friend in Mayfair to hear the director and two stars of Garsington’s “Queen of Spades” talk about the opera and sing arias. You can’t believe how loud an opera singer’s voice sounds in a (big) drawing room even when they are not singing full blast!