#sublimesunday | Knighton Plant Exchange and Knoll House

This has been a beautiful weekend, a far cry from the weather we've been having recently (mainly rain, interspersed with strong winds and very overcast), and the first #sublimesunday for a while. It coincided with the annual plant exchange, held in the drive of Knoll House, one of the four Edwardian houses in the Botanic Garden.

I was early. I'd already been out to the local Co-op to get some cash from the ATM. It was still fresh and despite the gloomy weather forecast, the sun was already up and out. I was looking for a few courgette plants. The woman on the left, in the blue, said she wished she'd known, she had fourteen at home.

There was a good selection of everything: indoor and outdoor plants, flowers, fruit and vegetables. More were arriving by the minute. So far, no courgette plants. "Pop into Knoll House and have a cup of tea," they said helpfully, "some courgette plants might have turned up by then."

The main doorway to Knoll House (I have been in by the servants' door as well: you have to be pretty nimble to get through that one). Knoll House was built in 1907. You can see the top step is looking a bit worse for wear. It's sandstone and a little weather-worn, plus it seems to be home to some ants this year (this is the year of the ants, they are everywhere and lawns all over south Leicester have been subject to their ant hills).

Refreshments were served in the hall at Knoll House - you know, that space that's usually a lobby or a corridor where you leave your outdoor coats and hats and umbrellas. Here it's a massive room with windows looking over the gardens and dividing doors into the drawing room, in use this morning for a weaving class using hand looms. The hall has its own grand fireplace with a repousse work copper fire hood surrounded by old Delft tiles. I like the little ingle-nook seats either side of the grate - they would be just about the only place that you would get warm.

The hall also has this low relief plaster frieze of dancing figures. Knoll House, although Edwardian, was built in Jacobean style - Gothic leaded windows and brick, lots of finials and corbels to go with the oriel windows and groin vaulted corridors at first floor level. I would have liked to explore further, but too many people about.

I sat out on the the terrace to drink my tea and admire the view over the garden. Several women came by to chat: Kate in a beautiful and long-lasting Liberty tana lawn blouse; Eileen in a fabulous retro outfit (a proper frock and cropped cardigan) and a woman whose name I didn't catch but who lives nearby and has a large garden. Everyone was very friendly, I can see you would soon make friends. It was beginning to get very hot.

I went back to the drive to choose my plants: A christmas cactus I had picked out earlier, a tropical begonia with woody stems and large speckled leaves, a sedum that I thought was an ice-plant, and a vinca or periwinkle, a pretty plant that I have wanted for ages. The plants were free to members, but I gave them a small donation.

Still no courgette plants, but they said I could still plant the seeds I had bought and forgotten, they would soon catch up.