After a short wait for Ellie and Jenny to finish running back down the big hill they had just run up (there are rumours they were delayed by a pit stop for cake), 6 of us met outside Left Bank.

It was quickly established that there wasn't a lot of gardening expertise within the group, so we had a whistlestop tour of the flower beds outside the building. Our instructor pointed out which plants were weeds, and which were not, with a reminder that not-weeds cost a lot of money.

Still slightly uncertain of the definition of a weed, we quickly started pulling up the definite weeds. Spreading ourselves out between the beds. Helen made quick work of the Rosemary (definitely not a weed) bed, and joined the rest of us on the slightly more overgrown patches. Tom also proved to be an expert weed identifier (or maybe just a more confident one), and moved on to clearing some Ivy on the other side of the lawn after swiftly clearing his bed. Liam and I tackled a particularly wild patch, with Liam picking fights with some nasty tendrils of bramble.

A mid-way break, with tea, coffee and shortbread (!!!) kindly provided by the Left Bank cafe, helped us to power through the rest of the task. Mulch was spread on the weeded patches, and Ellie expertly rearranged the cones to provide the finishing touches to a job well done.

Despite our best efforts, we didn't manage to clear everything or plant any bulbs. So we're looking forward to going back next week to finish up and prepare Left Bank to look even more beautiful in the spring.