By Victoria Plum 
By Victoria Plum
Reepham & District Gardening Club hosted a full coach-load of members and friends for the July outing to Jordans Mill near Biggleswade. This is a working mill and the centre of the Jordans empire (you might know the name because the family business now owns Pensthorpe Natural Park at Fakenham).
Situated predictably across a river, we learned how the mill worked and could explore the building, which has been cleverly designed for visitors to enjoy.
The modern café (good cake) is a fascinating building built as a huge barn with massive exposed timbers and has a terrace beside the river.
There are well-planned and maintained gardens, not huge, and a wildflower meadow that is cut and cleared of litter twice a year to keep fertility low to encourage the flowers and insects, which then thrive.
We went on to Knebworth House near Stevenage; the fabulous gothic pile appeared through the clouds and trees.
I had never been there before and only knew the name because of publicity associated with huge pop concerts. We discovered that the concerts and many other events were started, pioneered in fact, to raise money to maintain the house.
The resident Lytton-Cobbold family (links with the Earle and Bulwer families at Heydon) have lived at Knebworth for 500 years and the obligation of up keeping an ancient Grade II listed building is onerous.
We enjoyed an interesting tour of the house by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide. And we followed our map of the gardens, which were reputably designed by Lutyens and Jekyll.
Some of us felt they needed a little more help with general maintenance and weeding and it made me realise how the National Trust has raised standards and how high our expectations now are.
The expertise shown in turning a working site, Jordans Mill, into a visitor attraction could be used to good effect at Knebworth.
Above: Knebworth House. Below: Jordans Mill, new building. Photos: Tina Sutton
Geoff Fisher