Gardening_Convert wrote:
This weekend we thought we'd make use of the RHS membership that my
wife was given for Xmas and go and visit a garden.

We decided to visit Abbotsbury Sub-tropical gardens in Dorset as it's
close to the inlaws in Swanage. Therefore we visited them and got to
visit the gardens in one trip.

We chose Abbotsbury from the members handbook and so presumed the
entrance fee was covered under the membership.

However once we got their we found that the membership only covers free
entrance from Oct-Feb , well what the H**l is the point of that !!!

We were politely told "well it does say in the handbook" , yes but in
the small print !!!!!

In my copy of the handbook it does have the symbol for "only free for
part of the year" fairly clearly marked in the box giving opening times
and facilities etc.

No idea why some places aren't free all the time when others are,
though. Seems like an odd policy. Perhaps they don't feel they gain
enough from being an RHS garden to make it worthwhile. Or perhaps it's
an attempt to manage visitor numbers?

James