1 June - Morning

Wight Salads open day. This massive nursery (I still like to use that word) at Arreton, near Newport, grows an enormous proportion of Britain's tomatoes (they go to supermarkets all over the UK) and exports them, too - both organic and 'conventionally grown'. Including those that are on trial they grow around 350 different varieties, and we were allowed to sample them. Absolutely delicious!

Red ones, green ones, dark brown and almost black ones, striped ones and pretty pink ones. Each plant can produce around 40 trusses of fruit - being planted very early and pulled out very late. The secret lies in the compost - the largest heap in the UK which I was happy to officially open!

It's a modern system of composting using special sheds with air percolating through the floor. This means that the compost gets neither too wet nor too hot. The entire process, which uses up all the organic waste from the site, plus more from external sources, makes sure that nothing is wasted. Pulverised wooden pallets, cardboard, straw, green waste and manure are all incorporated and sheeted over. With regular turning, the compost is ready to use in 12 weeks and is then incorporated in the greenhouse soil. I am happy to have my name engraved upon it!

1 June - Afternoon

To Tyne Hall, ex-High Sheriff Peter Grimaldi's garden, which is being opened on behalf of the Girl Guides, who celebrate their centenary in 2010.

A glorious afternoon spent walking round and, for the best part of an hour, undertaking a gardeners' question time. There were questions on everything from ground elder and marestail to climbing roses and goji berries. (Must bone up on goji berries). But a goodly sum raised and a jolly bunch of folk.

2 June - Afternoon

To the Riverside Centre in Newport to present awards on behalf of Hampshire Constabulary to volunteers who have worked with young officers in the community and shown them the ropes. Some were from drug rehabilitation centres, others from mental health care, and all of them had allowed the young police officers (many of whom are straight from college or school) to work alongside them and gain a better understanding of their jobs.

A really worthwhile scheme, and one with enormous practical benefits, both from the police and the community point of view

6 June - Afternoon

Goddards Brewery in Ryde are celebrating the opening of their new brewhouse, so Martin White (Lord Lieutenant) and I were there to officiate, following in the steps of earlier brewery openers - the Governor of the Island, Lord Mottistone, the previous Lord Lieutenant and the Bishop of Portsmouth. We endeavoured to keep up the standard.

Sampled the brew (but cautiously, being reluctant to be breathalysed on the way to my next appointment) - quite delicious - and then managed to speak coherently before, with Martin, opening the massive twin doors of the brewery to dramatic music and clouds of back-lit smoke - very Star Wars.

Taken on a tour and shown how to make beer. Very complicated. Decided to stick to drinking Goddards - couldn't do better

6 June - Evening

The British Red Cross Awards Celebration at their headquarters in Newport, attended by the national Chairman of the Red Cross, James Cochrane, and South East area representative Mike Boocock. Listened to the present 'State of the Union', and then Martin White, the Lord Lieutenant, and I handed out awards and long-service badges.

Many of those present had put in fifteen years of service to the Red Cross, one had achieved 30 years. All of them are volunteers and happy to be doing their bit. A heart-warming evening and a relief that in spite of drinking a pint of Goddard's Best earlier in the afternoon I was not in need of their services - unlike one of their number who, in preparing the room, fell up the steps and broke her toe. She was unable to stay for the ceremony.

7 June - Afternoon

Ex-High Sheriff Judith Hammer has just published a wonderful guide to the wild flowers of the Isle of Wight and held a party in her garden to launch the book. Her paintings were on display in her dining room - page after page of painstakingly crafted watercolours that give the Rev. W. Keble Martin (he of Concise British Flora fame) a run for his money.

The detail of the miniature paintings is breathtaking and every home on the Island should have a copy of this lovingly created paperback - a superb celebration of the island's riches and a tribute to a remarkable woman's artistry and her years of dedication. I'd feel thrilled to have painted just one of them - Judith has created hundreds.

15 June - Lunchtime

The Isle of Wight Stroke Association does valuable work on the Island in helping stroke victims and in raising awareness generally of how strokes can be prevented and treated. We gather for lunch in a secluded private garden Bembridge with its supporters.
 
A touching speech by Andrew Turner, the Island's M.P. on his own experiences, and a good lunch in good company while the Chale Players tootle away at Gilbert and Sullivan in a smaller tent outside the marquee in which we dine. Only in Britain. Only on the Isle of Wight - bliss!

18 June - Evening

Commodore David Steel is the Commander of the Naval Base at Portsmouth and invites us for dinner in his home - Spithead House - the company of an eclectic mix of people from the Second Sea Lord and the Managing Director of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to the Chief Executive of Portsmouth Football Club Peter Storrie and his wife.

The entire gathering is bowled over by the fact that the F.A. Cup - Portsmouth F.C.'s latest prize - sits on a side table while we have drinks. It's just there. The real thing! Like Bisto-kids, we each have our snap taken with this iconic lump of silver before we leave. 'And this, children, is when daddy won the F.A. Cup�..!'

21 June - Evening

To the Youngs in Hamstead to meet the locals and have a glass overlooking the Solent. The views are simply stunning and we chew the fat with folk from all over the Island on a sunny summer evening. Great fun

22 June - Morning

To the Pan Estate, Newport, to judge an assortment of vehicles in their Soap-box Derby. A bright and sunny morning with a stiff breeze.

The field behind Downside Middle School is now a jolly tented village that has been equipped with a ramp made out of boards and scaffolding that looks like an Olympic ski slope. There are 23 carts in all, made by island kids who, in teams of three, will preside over their hurtling down the slope and along a short but winding course to see which is fastest. We watch their practice runs from behind our hands. Some of them come to grief at the foot of the slope to shrieks from the crowd. There are buckled wheels and bent chassis, but these are swiftly repaired for the afternoon's serious competition.

The ingenuity is staggering. These are not simply 'soap boxes' on wheels. There are wonderfully constructed contraptions that look as though the Wright Brothers might have used them as prototypes for the first flight. 8th Newport Scouts have something called 'The Wooden Bullet' which is a finely crafted cylinder with a nervous scout strapped inside. We give them first prize for construction, wondering if the scout will emerge in one piece. At least they'll have £25 to make him feel better about his ordeal.

Other teams are clad in livery - black T-shirts with orange lettering saying 'Roadkill 3' (they have a battered cuddly toy on their front bumper) - and yet more in white overalls with a sleek white-painted vehicle carrying the legend 'Wight Lightening.'

Meet all the kids - a great bunch who have a fun day in this part of the island which is not always thought highly of. The locals are hugely friendly and welcoming and rather weary of a reputation that has, in their eyes, lasted far too long. Certainly my own experiences on the estate have been nothing but pleasant. The police are here with their own vehicle - a home-made wooden 'Black Maria' (complete with cuddly toy prisoner) on very tiny wheels into which a WPC is strapped. They replace her with a constable in a pointy hat before pushing it over the edge, where it lurches for a few seconds before wobbling down the slope (H.M. Constabulary may need to recalculate their ground clearance).

Last year they competed with the Fire Service who this year seem to have pulled out. The police suspect cowardice. Meet Mr Price who is showing about ten vintage cars - from a 1960s Morris Oxford to a couple of 1950s Wolseleys. He tells me he has 42 in all, as well as several hundred model aircraft, two and a half thousand Dinky toys and ten children. I tell Alison I have never seen a happier looking man. She looks nervous.

Reluctantly we leave before the final to go on to Barton Manor. I hope the Soap-box Derby continues to get its funding. It is an annual event with great heart that builds many bridges in the community and deserves to succeed.

22 June - Afternoon

Barton Manor I first visited around 30 years ago when Anthony Goddard (of Goddard's Isle of Wight Brewery fame) resided there. It was owned a century ago by the Prince of Wales (Edward VII) and stayed in even earlier by Queen Victoria when Osborne (next door) was being built. It was then, I think, used for overspill when entertaining. There are still photos on show of the ill-fated Tzar of Russia and his family sitting in front of the Manor. Quite eerie.

It is a stunning house, and I last visited it about seven years ago for a Gardeners' World programme when I went to look at their National Collection of red-hot pokers. Then it was owned by impresario Robert Stigwood who took exception to my arrival by helicopter. Alas, it was essential, since I was visiting the Isle of Wight, the Isle of Man and St Michael's Mount, Cornwall, all in one day for a programme about gardens on islands. I think Mr Stigwood had his own helicopter and might have been uneasy at the prospect of rivalry. He needn't have been - mine was sent back at the end of the day. Shame. There are days when it would be quite handy.

Today I am here for one of four Earl Mountbatten Hospice garden open days, where the owners of Barton kindly give permission for the Island's hospice to use the grounds to raise essential funds. It is a wonderfully sunny but very windy afternoon - many of the stallholders have to abandon plans to pitch their canvas awnings outside and come into the range of barns.

Others grit their teeth and in true British style battle on, clinging to tent poles, guy ropes, lacy pillows and greetings cards. We are taken round to meet an amazingly dedicated bunch of around 300 volunteers who are responsible for the charity chop and for helping out at the hospice all year round. Some of them have been doing so for thirty years.

We are stopped every few minutes to answer gardening problems (well, it is a garden) or just to say hello. There must be around a thousand folk swarming over the gardens, the grounds that run down to the glittering lake, the barnyard and the stalls selling everything from hand-made handbags to garden plants, as-new clothing to household furniture, garden antiques to wooden bowls and pottery.

Come away with two pots of honey, one lavender cushion, one succulent, one 'lucky dip tin', and a small quilt. Say to Alison as we wend our way home that I think there were perhaps a couple of people whose hands we did not shake.