Nerine Festival has to move from Candie
THE Nerine Festival has had to move to Guernsey Gardens this year, after it was discovered the Candie Gardens glasshouses need repairs.
The annual event has been held in the historic glasshouses in the lower garden since it started in 2000.
It is organised by Plant Heritage Guernsey. A group spokesman said the glasshouses were closed pending repairs.
‘Plant Heritage Guernsey was disappointed to be told at short notice by Agriculture, Countryside and Land Management Services that neither glasshouse is available and apologise to visitors who may have already made arrangements to visit,’ they said.
The glasshouses are some of the oldest in the UK and both have protected monument status.
‘Plant Heritage Guernsey is most grateful that they have been able to use the glasshouses each year for their display of Guernsey’s national flower,’ the spokesman said.
‘Plant Heritage Guernsey hopes that it will be able to return to Candie Gardens in 2020 when it will celebrate 20 years since the first Nerine Festival.’
The flowers are native to South Africa and come in a variety of vibrant colours, including pink and red. It flowers in the autumn.
The nerine sarniensis, or Guernsey lily, is considered the island’s national flower and has been cultivated in the island for more than three centuries.
One story of how they arrived in Guernsey was that boxes of bulbs of South African nerines were on their way to the Netherlands, when their ship sank in 1659. The bulbs managed to float to shore and flourished on the Guernsey shoreline.
The 2019 Nerine Festival will now take place at Guernsey Gardens in La Ramee, St Peter Port.
It opens on Saturday 5 October at 2.30pm and is open each day from 10am to 4pm until Saturday 19 October.
There will be nerines for sale and Plant Heritage volunteers on hand at the weekends to answer any queries.
