Ladderland

A few days ago we decided that we needed a garden ladder, something that was a bit steadier and a bit taller than the various step ladders that we have in the garage, including one rather old and possibly dangerous wooden one.

Perusal of BH's gardening magazine suggested that a spread leg, adjustable tripod was the thing. But perusal of web sites for both garden centres and builders merchants suggested that while plenty of such ladders were available mail order, few if any places were into carrying stocks for inspection. Inspection that we were rather keen on, given that ladders of this sort appear to come in at around £400. Which is a lot, but hopefully cheaper and easier than getting in an occasional gardener. Which is not so easy now that so many of the Poles and so forth have gone home.

Eventually we ran down the Honeys, near Guildford, no relation of the baking Honeys of Horrabridge, who claim at reference 1 to be the largest supplier of arborists' equipment in the tree care industry. And they did have a tripod which we could inspect, although any actual purchase would be mail order.

So this morning, off we went. Some difficulty getting through the junction by the railway bridge at Oxshott, but little difficulty getting through the massive junction works where the A3 meets the M25. And, just as BH thought that her navigation had gone wrong, there we were at the arborists' emporium. Including all kinds of fancy gear for rope work, as snapped above

The ladder on show was most impressive. In particular, it was hugely more solid underfoot than any of our steps. So we were sold, and hopefully a new ladder should turn up in a few days. One less excuse for me not to prune our various shrubs swept away.

We opted to return on the scenic route to Dorking, which was indeed very scenic. We passed near quite a number of what appeared from the road to be Wellingtonia, but I was either too slow, or access was by private road or there did not seem to be any access at all. So none scored. The best we could do was revisit the two Wellingtonia scored in the course of a heritage visit to Dorking last year, as noticed at reference 2.

Wellingtonia apart, we thought we should mark the occasion by taking a light lunch at the Denbies wine estate, now doubling up as a pit stop (in the way of a National Trust establishment), a hotel, an art gallery and more besides.

Art which included the item snapped above, which could have been ours for £3,500. The ticket did not say whether it was a unique art work, a limited edition or what. In any event, we passed.

BH took tea and tuna sandwich, I took tea and double sausage roll. These last involving a lot of flake, a great many calories and some meat. Served warm in a rather large pressed cardboard container, which we were assured was recyclable, if not actually recycled. Perfectly acceptable, but maybe on the next occasion we will raise our game to the Snooty Fox Café of Shalford and reference 4, a Surrey take on the greasy spoon, say the Market Restaurant of Whitecross Street, noticed from time to time in these pages. 

I passed on Snooty on this occasion being taken by surprise and being a fair way from home. I wonder now how many of their patrons used to read Lord Snooty in the dorm after lights out, when they were very young?

PS: an advertisement for the Honeys turned up in my gmail email seconds after I posted this. Very on the ball these people at Google - even if this particular horse had already bolted.

References

Reference 1: https://honeybros.com/.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/wellingtonia-93.html.

Reference 3: https://www.denbies.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://thesnootyfox.uk/.