You can find the exotic in York

I was a ?tourist? in York this weekend, staying away from
home in the city where I was an undergraduate, and still there are firsts. 

In Stonegate a small doorway invites visitors, shoppers,
locals and tourists alike, down a ginnel into a tiny secret Secret Garden, a charming escape from
the crowds shopping in the misty autumnal grey of November.

Annie Austen-Meek, the inventor and crafter of the softpots shares
her skills with Caroline and me; and I find myself playing with compost making a
fabric plant container and having fun.  

The plants grow normally, absorbing ground and rain water
like a sponge, the soft containers moulded to the shape of the root ball.
Softpots use recycled material and can green a small

Annie is right:  ?You?ll
discover a certain magic happen when you make a softpot ? it is you welding the
earth, the plant and your own creative spirit into one, making a living
creation that is as unique and individual  as you are.?

You can find Annie’s Secret Garden at 35 Stonegate ? it is
exotic, it’s fun, it’s infectious.

I enjoyed it ? you probably would too.

Below is photograph of  Caroline Warburton with Annie Austen-Meek and the two softpots Caroline and I made.