Yesterday, a sharp-eyed Barbel noticed a tree laden with damsons against our garden wall, and this evening she came to pick some fruit for making jam and plum dumplings.

The tree was here when we came to the garden 16 years ago. We don't know whether it is one of the fruit trees planted by Head Gardener Alexander More in 1900 or a recent addition. The tree is no longer accessible from inside the garden because of the garden house and shrubbery planted around it. Usually wasps and butterflies are the only beneficiaries of the ripe and fallen fruit.