I work extremely long hours in the School term time as I am a music teacher in a boarding school and I still have a performing career. On top of all that I also am quite active with politics. Things get easier in school holidays and I try to keep Sunday clear all year wherever possible. In these precious windows of time I like to have quality time with my children and sometimes some solitary quality time with myself.

A few years ago we took out family membership of the National Trust, English Heritage and more recently The Royal Horticultural Society. This gives us a huge choice of options of activities, which suit the more middle aged amongst us but have enough to interest and enthral the younger members of the family. I know most of them would probably prefer Alton Towers, but I do honestly think we have a duty to educate our children broadly, and this includes how to spend leisure time in many different ways and to learn about our traditions, heritage and country ways. In this playstation/pc oriented world our children shut themselves away in front of a screen of one sort or another! As a parent I felt it was fine for mine to do this as long as:

1.They got lots of fresh air and exercise.

There we have it. So here we are off to Wisley Gardens at last! Be fair, you never go anywhere for a day out without having a bit of a journey first!

Wisley Gardens is the flagship garden of the Royal Horticultural Society and is situated near Woking, Surrey just off the A3. It is very well signposted with those brown tourist signs so it is nice and easy to find!

The gardens cover an area of 240 acres of lush Surrey countryside. It is hard to believe you are so close to the major trunk road from London to Portsmouth when you stand in the peace and tranquillity of this lovely place. You don't hear the rushing cars go past at all! It is a blissful haven.

There are lots of aspects to this garden. There is a fantastic rock garden with alpine houses and rock pools. You can feel as though you have been whisked away to Switzerland!

The mixed flower borders can also be really spectacular if you go at the right time of year. Spring and summer give the best displays usually. Now, you will probably think me really sad, but I always slip the digital camera into my handbag when I go to places like this. I take a photo of any plant I fancy having in the garden and I also take a photo of its tag so that I can marry them up at home. We then enlarge it on the computer and see what we think it would look like in our garden. I have some lovely flower pictures stored on my computer!

Then there are the orchards. This is what an English garden should be like- neat rows of gnarled branched apple trees! There are also pears and quinces. You don't often see Quinces in Safeway do you?! They look like a cross between an apple and a pear and are usually used for making jelly and jam. In the orchard, which Wisley call the Fruit Field, there are over 670 types of apple. I find that absolutely staggering! There are miniature apple trees and cider apple trees which I found especially interesting plus some apple varieties which go back to the Middle Ages. I find that sort of historical continuity very comforting and utterly fascinating.

I particularly enjoy the artificial waterway in front of the house with resplendent water lilies. I have this as the desktop on my computer sometimes. It is in the Japanese style and is stunning.

The Wisley experience doesn't stop there! They often have sculpture in the garden. Earlier this year were two pieces by Henry Moore, on loan from the Henry Moore Foundation. There was also a sculpture trail through the gardens. This was interesting as you kept stumbling against pieces of sculpture when you least expected it. One particularly spectacular piece was a colossal owl "flying" through the trees. It really made me jump when I saw it. Perhaps the most memorable was the first piece we saw. To appreciate this story you have to be aware that we did not know about the sculpture trail when we set off, as we had not picked up our "bumph" from the entry desk. Hannah and I came round the corner in a woody bit and in the trees I could see a man squatting, apparently naked! I nudged Hannah and said "Look- there is a bloke doing his business in the bushes, it's really not on!!" We continued walking and as we got nearer we saw it was only a statue. A very realistic statue, I might add! I think the sculpture was being sold, although when I found out the prices I gave up on the idea. They were very expensive indeed. I did notice several of our American and Japanese cousins purchasing them. I wonder how they would get them home?

There is a lovely restaurant but we tend to picnic and enjoy the lovely surroundings.

We love the shop! It sells all sorts of things from delicious home made cakes, jams and pickles to a brilliant array of gardening books (the world's finest collection) and fine bone china. There is also stationery, kitchenware, glassware and videos.

The entrance fee is £5 for adults and £2 for children 6-16 years. Of course, if you are a member entrance is free. Membership gives you free entry into RHS gardens all over the country. It also gets you first pickings tickets for the Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows. You can get loads of other perks including discounted tickets to BBC Gardeners World and free seeds once a year from Wisley.