EVERY other year, members of St Mary's Church, Morchard Bishop, organise an Open Gardens and Allotments weekend and this year they persuaded 10 different owners to show their gardens to the public. Most were large gardens on the outskirts of the village and each had its own character and special features.  There were immaculate lawns and hedges, wildflower meadows and wildlife ponds, goldfish ponds and some had poultry and bees. A  joint of lamb was cooking in an outdoor cob oven and here they were selling home-made soap including a very effective "gardeners" soap which contained small  amounts of pumice.  In a garden with large lawn and colourful herbaceous borders, visitors were entertained by Morchard Bishop guitarist, David Cottam and they were also offered home-made elderflower cordial and biscuits. The new Morchard Bishop Primary School Garden was only officially opened on June 16 but with raised vegetable beds they hope in the future to provide fruit and vegetables for the school kitchen.  Raised beds were a feature of many of the gardens and the 25 plots on the allotments produced a wide variety of fruit, vegetables and flowers.  Morchard Bishop has its own Cottage Gardens Nursery and many visitors were tempted to buy some herbaceous perennials for their own gardens. In the Memorial Hall they were serving ploughman's lunches, cream teas, tea and coffee. There was a large stall selling plants donated by members and friends and other stalls for jewellery and bric-a-brac.  The raffle had prizes for John Lewis and Marks and Spencer vouchers. After the gardens closed on Sunday evening, there was a light-hearted Church Service in St Mary's Church with a garden theme conducted by the Revd Lindsey Starrs, which was well attended.  It was perfect weather the whole weekend and the event raised about £2,180 for St Mary's Church funds.