What's Newby Hall Twittering about?
11 Dec 2009
Gardening enthusiasts around the world will be able to have a sneak peak at the grounds of Newby Hall from Monday 14th December thanks to head gardener, Mark Jackson's latest new tool of the trade - a camera phone!
The phone will help Mark to offer people a look at the gardens throughout the winter months, as he takes pictures and posts them onto Newby Hall's Twitter site, giving an exclusive view of the full 12 month cycle of the historic gardens.
"Visitors flock to the gardens from April to September, when everything is looking at its best, but that only gives a snapshot of the work that the garden team are doing all year round to prepare for this relatively short season," says Mark. "What we are planning to do with the Twitter site is show the garden as it changes throughout the year, so that hopefully, home gardeners can identify with what we are doing and hopefully take inspiration to extend their skills at home."
The Twitter page will be updated regularly with details of what gardeners are working on any particular day, so will also be useful remainder for home enthusiasts of what tasks they can be doing in their own gardens.
"This is going to be an honest view of the gardens from a time when they are normally inaccessible to visitors," adds Mark. "Throughout the course of the year, we face exactly the same challenges as any other garden, whether it is pests of fungal infections, and we're hoping that we can not only give advice to others on how they might be able to deal with common garden problems, but hopefully also learn from other keen gardeners about measures that they have used - this really can be a fantastically interactive tool for any gardener."
People wanting to follow the work of Mark and his gardening team in Newby Hall's gardens can sign up for free updates at http://twitter.com/Newbyhall
