The Secret Gardens of Oxton 2003 - successfully managed to avoid any heavy downpours, and judging by the number of people wandering around the gardens when I went round, it appeared that it also managed to attract another big crowd who thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

A with previous years the residents of Oxton opened up their gardens to allow visitors the chance to view the variety of gardens hidden behind the walls of Oxton.

The event has also grown into a social occassion for many visitors. With entertainment such as Jazz music from a saxophonist and guitar duo at the bottom of Rose Mount, plus a concert from a Brass Band during the afternoon. In addition to this visitors can enjoy a refreshing drink in the pubs of Oxton as they travel round. This years Secret Gardens was offically opened by the Mayor, Councillor Pat Williams, who gave a small speach in the centre of the village in the early afternoon.

There were 16 gardens on show with the majority of these being in and around Mount Pleasant this year. The ticket sales for the event had been excellent and organisers had predicted over three thousand visitors. This was great news for the Oxton Society with all of the money raised going to local charities and to fund projects within the conservation area.

A number of local artists took the opportunity to display their work in the Oxton Arms car park, and I had decided to join them, in an attempt to sell some of my local pictures of Oxton and also to gain some publicity for the Oxton Village website. During the afternoon I took time off, just after a light shower had forced me indoors, to travel around some of the gardens.

With camera, and family, in hand we climbed Rose Mount for the first garden. As with previous years all of the gardens were really well presented and there were a number of new gardens that we had not previously seen.
After a good hour travelling around and enjoying the friendly village atmposphere that this event continues to generate I returned to my pitch with the other Oxton artists and settled back to enjoy the sounds of the brass band.

Eight images from the 2003 event. Unfortunately I didn't get round all the gardens this year.

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