Daffodils draw hundreds of visitors
THE flowers may now have faded but optimism is blooming at the historic Weatherstons daffodil site in Lawrence.
In its second year under a new committee — the Weatherstons Brewery and Daffodil Trust — the site had flourished once more and had an increase in visitors of about 20%, spokeswoman Mel Foster said.
That had been down to the hard work of ‘‘dozens’’ of volunteers.
‘‘We had about 1200 people visit this season, over six weeks, with more than 90% of visitors from out of town. That’s only been possible thanks to the efforts of a long list of people.’’
Critical to the lasting success of the project was continued volunteer and sponsorship support, Mrs Foster said.
‘‘Because it’s volunteer run there’s a lot to do, not only in terms of maintenance and opening up some new areas covered by gorse, but also on the administrative and hosting side, keeping the site open for visitors next spring. We’d love to hear from anyone who’d like to help out.’’
Given sufficient momentum and volunteer support, it was also ‘‘possible’’ former Weatherstons festival Daffodil Dayze could also make a return.
The spring celebration of flowers, food and entertainment lapsed in 2013.
Feedback about the site from visitors this year had been universally positive, she said.
‘‘The site looked spectacular this season, thanks in part to warm and sunny weather. Anecdotally, this has been one of the better season for the daffodils themselves, and we’ve had lots of feedback from visitors surprised at the scale of the site and number of flowers.’’
One father had described his visit as ‘‘a lot cooler’’ than expected, she said.
Most of the daffodils had now finished blooming.
‘‘It’s done its dash for the season. Now work starts for next spring.’’