Open Gardens Raise Cash for Charity

Visitors to the award-winning Secret Gardens of Sandwich have helped raise more than £700 for charity in 2010.

There have already been two NGS (National Gardens Scheme) Open Days at the gardens – which have been restored to their former glory at a cost of more than £2m – and a third is scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 9, 2010.

Proceeds from the gate on all three go to the National Gardens Scheme nursing and caring charities, which include Marie Curie Cancer Care and Macmillan Cancer Support.

The Secret Gardens of Sandwich have proved a popular attraction in 2010, with more than 25,000 visitors already this year, from all over Europe.

Designed at the turn of the century by Gertrude Jekyll to complement the Lutyens-designed Salutation Manor House, The Secret Gardens have something to reveal to visitors all year round.

Millions of pounds have been ploughed into the gardens – 3.5 acres of beds, borders, meadows and woodland – under the expert eye of Head Gardener Steve Edney who has worked painstakingly to recreate the many ‘rooms’ and exquisite herbaceous borders she envisaged in her planting plan.

The completion of the Long Border – a recreation of Jekyll’s own garden at Munstead Wood – concludes a five-year restoration project, which has been ongoing since the current owners, Dominic and Stephanie Parker, took on the house and gardens.

Most of the plants have been grown from seed by the Secret Gardens’ highly-skilled team of gardeners and the 14-ft wide border contains more than 2,500 annual plants, which are now at their finest.

The Secret Gardens are open seven days a week, throughout the year. From now until September 30, opening hours are from 10am to 5pm, closing at 4pm from October through to December.

Visitors over the Bank Holiday can enjoy a special treat, as the gates will re-open at 5.30pm on August 27, 28 and 29, for a special series of guided Dusk Tours commencing at 6.45pm. A few tickets are still available, priced £16 – telephone 01304 619919 for details.

The National Gardens Scheme was founded in 1927 to raise money for the nurses of the Queen’s Nursing Institute. In its first year, more than £8,000 was raised from 609 gardens.
In 1948, the NGS joined forces with the National Trust, which now opens many of its treasured gardens on certain days to support NGS charities. Today, more than 4000 gardens throughout England and Wales take part each year and feature in the NGS’ famous ‘Yellow Book.’

Dominic Parker said: “The National Gardens Scheme is a wonderful idea, whereby people can enjoy a day out and help support vital charities into the bargain. As one of the leading private gardens in the South East, we are delighted to be a part of the scheme and are thrilled at the amount we have raised in 2010.”

For more information contact Jane Shotliff on 01622 870272 or Simon Clubley at The Wow Factory on 01233 713 852