Going public
Garden parties with a difference
EARLIER this summer I was lucky enough to be invited to a very special garden party.
It was to celebrate the 85th anniversary of Scotland’s Gardens (scotlandsgardens.org), the organisation that each year invites garden owners to open up their plots to the public in order to raise money for charity.
Even if you’ve never visited one of these gardens, you can’t have missed the distinctive yellow “Garden Open” signs that appear on roadsides whenever an event takes place.
Many of the owners were at the party in the beautiful grounds of Winton House, a Scottish Renaissance castle in East Lothian that has participated in the scheme for a record 84 years.
They were joined for the occasion by the charity’s patron, HRH The Duchess of Rothesay who congratulated them on their efforts.
David Mitchell, deputy chairman of Scotland’s Gardens, praised the “owners and growers, waterers and weeders, car parkers, cake bakers and general gofers” who are essential for the success of every opening.
It takes lots of hard work to get a garden ready for the public and from the owners I talked to, I discovered it usually involves persuading friends and family to lend a hand with pouring teas and selling tickets on the gate.
Then, after all that effort the weather might put a dampener on the day or, if the sun shines, you could find yourself with more visitors than you had ever expected.
That’s what happened to seasoned garden openers Chris and Jerry Gregson from Edinburgh, when they opened their garden earlier this year.
“We had a three-hour window when the wind dropped, the rain stopped and sun shone now and then and
during that time we had visitors from all over – more than 250 of them.
“We raised over £1,500 and were so stunned we counted the money repeatedly for some time,” they told me.
On its first opening in 1931, Winton House raised £20 8s & 6d. Since then gardeners across the country have raised £8.7 million for more than 200 charities and this year 440 gardens, from Wigtownshire in the south to Shetland in the north, are participating. Most are private and not otherwise available to visit except for this one day in the year.
Not all are as grand as Winton House. Some are tiny plots tucked away behind city homes, others are allotments and there are many villages where you can follow a trail from house to house, enjoying the contrasting gardens.
Over the coming weeks the “Garden Open” sign will be going up outside many fascinating gardens, including Craigentinny Telferton Allotments, off Portobello Road in Edinburgh, which will be open on August 7.
But if you can’t make it along there, just look out for yellow signs in your neighbourhood. Whether the garden is attached to a castle or a cottage, you’re in for a treat.