Admittedly, the Only Fools and Horses episode was called ‘To Hull and Back’, but I did have a Rodney with me … well, his name does begin with R.

My son is in his final year at sixth form, so he is beginning to look at his options, to see what college will put up with him for x amount of years.

York University advertised their open day on the 29th September, right no problem with that, nice little 360 mile round trip … no problem …

Not for the first time this year, the weather was not going to play ball. Parts of York was flooded, after prolonged rain in the Pennines and Dales that caused the River Ouse to rise to 5 metres above normal, the highest level since the floods of 2000.

We thought the open day would be cancelled, but we then saw on their website it was definitely be going ahead.

We got up early on the Saturday to head towards the floods (hang on haven’t I been here before, but then a little closer to home- Sorry- This Garden is Now Closed! ). We headed up the A1, the weather was perfect from the moment we left home and all the way to York.

We saw only one of the flooded areas on our way, but the University itself was unaffected. After we got all the important things out of the way (how many bars and food shops were there), we had a look round the campus.

Being a Head Gardener from another college, I always like to have a good nose round the gardens … and on this occasion, I’m glad I did!

As you can see, there is lots of water but no floods …

Student Union….

Have you guessed what it is yet….

Salvia farinacea ‘Victoria’, one of my favourites.

I don’t think they can really complain about their view…

Now this gives me an idea…

Now I want one these where I work, but I certainly would not get it sign posted though.

What a wonderful university, friendly, relaxed, lovely surroundings and plenty of water but not flooded. We enjoyed the day and we also got got the important stuff done as well.

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