A Snowdrop Walk on a Grey Day. Mrs Park Keeper and I took ourselves off to see the snowdrops at Rode Hall in Cheshire last week, on a grey blustery day. The hall is still a family home and the historically interesting grounds are well-kept but unspoiled -not over-managed as some country properties can be. The main design of the grounds follows Humphrey Repton’s Red Book for the site, though implimented some years after its commission, and the terrace is designed by Nesfield.

In the midst of all the gloom surrounding the green space sector due to the demoralising deep budget cuts, there are some lights glowing through the darkness. A new magazine for the sector, Professional Horticulture is due to be launched in the next few weeks. There are many great mags out there, Horticulture Week, Pitchcare, Pro Landscaper amongst others, but none have been focused largely on the green spaces sector since the demise of Greenspace with its excellent Spaces an