Overdue visit

Last week we finally paid a visit to Wisley, which it seems that we had not visited for a couple of years, with the last visit seemingly being noticed at reference 1. Although, to be fair, BH visited about a year ago, at a time when I was struck down with some winter bug or other. Guessing, over the last ten years or so, I would guess that we have visited two or three times a year.

We had been rather put off by stories about long waits at the A3/M25 interchange and then we got lost trying to avoid said interchange on our way back from the Isle of Wight last summer - but that all seems a bit thin. Perhaps Hampton Court just got the better of this attraction for a while.

In the event, the road works were not a serious problem, provided only one got into the right lanes: sometimes a lane which ought to have been moving along turned out to be blocked by people queueing to get off the A3 onto the M25. And we even got into Car Park No.1 and did not have to trek in from the outer reaches. Maybe cool winter mornings were not popular on Tuesdays.

First stop was the café at the front of the fine new building, to the right of the old building as you face it from the outside. The café with the fake rafters noticed at reference 2.

The sausage rolls looked overcomplicated and expensive, so I settled for something described as a rock cake. Not as bad as one might think from the snap above and it was fresh enough. But it was brown inside and nowhere near as good as the rock cakes to be had from the beach café at Yaverland. Although, to be fair, this last was unlikely to have been open on a winter weekday. Furthermore, there did not seem to be any Internet on my telephone. What sort of a café was that?

We were pleased to find that there were some more bulbs out, in addition, that is, to the early daffodils which we had already passed at the roundabout from which we got onto the A3, possibly known as Esher Common to those coming off the A3. The roundabout where one used to be able to find the splendidly named Sunrise Homes (or something like that), intended for the older resident, now renamed to something a bit more discrete and tasteful.

The old house at Wisley, which I believe was purpose built for the RHS, despite looking like a rich man's house from the early twentieth century, and therefore scorable (but never scored) as a fake, has been repurposed, at least in part, as a low-intensity museum, with the horticultural work that used to be done there moved to new buildings in what was garden.

But to be fair to the RHS, they do not hide the faking under a bushel, with the snap above being taken from their website. Nonetheless, ironic that having recycled lots of even older building materials to make what I am calling the old house, they should stoop to the plastic beams of reference 2. I suppose one could say that in both cases they were running with the fashions of the day.

While inside I was intrigued by this new-to-me material of cardboard used to make the displays in what is now the museum.

A handsome display of equipment. The black microscope in the middle, the one between the two greys, looks as if it came from the same stable as that my father trained with. Except his had the added refinement of a slide table equipped with verniers. A handsome instrument it was too - and he was trusting enough that I was allowed to play with it as a child. No idea what eventually happened to it.

I was amused by the boards listing the directors. On the first, snapped above, we had what looked like gentlemen who were eminent scientists or horticulturalists. On the third, to the right, we had ladies whom one suspected of having been parachuted in from the visitor attraction end of the business, ladies who would be equally at home at Chessington World of Adventures. Times change. From where I associate to a piece I once read by Sir Simon Jenkins, to the effect that we should not be sniffy about such people, that they were a breath of fresh air, bringing in skills and knowledge that places like Wisley and Hampton Court Palace badly needed. Well maybe he was right, but I don't much like it.

Out to admire the fine archway, complete, as I recall, with some kind of interview or photo-shoot at the far end. Must be quite something when the plants get cracking; the sort of thing that big gardens like Wisley can do well. From where we wandered around to the not-so-new-now hothouse. Just as many fascinating or otherwise impressive plants as ever.

The controls, not far from the entrance.

Maybe a pitcher plant.

Part of the day's collection of smaller plants. Presumably rotated from some other glass house, behind the scenes.

Some of the larger plants.

By the exit from the dry department. Always good fun to try and work out the exact configuration of the leaves on the stalk or growing head - as with the araucaria (monkey puzzle) - usually without much success. I console myself with the thought that one needs to do a bit of dissection to make real progress, not an option on offer.

A plant with very striking leaves. Maybe something about the lunchtime light at this spot. Would we be able to find it again without asking one of the many gardeners dotted about the place?

A curious Hibiscus flower.

The café outside used to be intended for families, with menu and volume of sound to match. Now tastefully got up as a light lunch place for more sedate people. And mums with babies if they behave themselves. Gloves not as blue here as at reference 3, but still bluer than they seem in real life.

The staff told me that the site was still served by a single contractor, possibly reference 5 supported by reference 4. One can see the attraction of outsourcing this sort of thing, of bringing in people with knowledge and resources that you would be hard put to deliver by yourself. But, thinking with my fingers, there must come a tipping point, where your food operation becomes so big that it makes sense to bring it in-house again and cut out the middle man. I am told, for example, that catering is the biggest department, turnover wise, at Chessington Garden Centre, core business or at least heading that way. I wonder how much of that is outsourced? The butchers' shop almost certainly, but the cafeteria for some reason I think not. I suppose the point is that management should review the matter from time to time, to at least think about other ways of doing things.

A perfectly decent macaroni cheese, if not quite up to my own standard. But they could not deal with my continued craving for oranges and orange juice.

I make to make do with something orange and fizzy from a tin. Not a bad substitute in the event. Mainly made of fizzy water and concentrate, with the concentrate made of, in descending order, grapes, apples, lemons and oranges. It does not admit to added sugar, but I suppose the grapes do that. From the people at reference 6. Beverage solutions rule! From the Netherlands. According to Wikipedia they operate lots of big brand names and also do own-brand beverages for big supermarkets.

We wound up the visit with a second visit to the big shop. Fortunately the café next door was quiet enough and I was able to sit it out.

All very satisfactory. When will we next visit?

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/12/winter-wisley.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/fake-172.html. 

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/to-phoenix.html.

Reference 4: https://www.courtcatering.co.uk/.

Reference 5: https://www.companyofcooks.com/.

Reference 6: https://www.refresco.com/en/. 'Global independent beverage solutions provider: We produce over 40 million liters of the world’s favorite drinks per day'.