St Nicholas', Brighton

Rest Garden: Dyke Road

by Bob Young

Blossom in 2009

Last year, 2009, Easter Monday was on 13 April. Already by then the flowering cherry trees in the Rest Garden were red with blossom and many other trees were speckled with bursts of bright green. The huge tree in the centre of the Rest Garden had not yet come into leaf, but was covered with thousands of silvery white sheaths out of which the greenness was about to emerge.

Same day this year

On the same day this year - 13 April 2010 - there were no leaves or blossom to be seen. The trees were still bare. The hard winter and cold winds had held everything back. The good news of course, is that the explosion of colours is still to come. It will be worth visiting the Rest Garden over the next couple of weeks to see it all happening.

Open to everyone

The Rest Garden is only three or four minutes walk up Dyke Road from the Clock Tower. Go up the hill until you reach (on your left) the junction of Dyke Road with Upper North Street. (St Nicholas Church is by now on your right.) Continue on a little further and the entrance to the Rest Garden is then on your left through the stone archway you can see in the photos. The Rest Garden is a public city park, open to everybody.