All About the National Gardens Scheme

My apologies . I have been neglectful so far this month of you , my transatlantic buddy . I have lashings of pale excuses mostly concerning take in to be away at more flower shows ( one in Birmingham and one in Moscow ) but I imagine I have belike gone on long enough about garden appearance . or else I will tell you of another expectant British establishment , the National Gardens Scheme ( NGS ) .

This is a wonderful idea that was dream up in 1927 so as to raise money for the Queen ’s Nursing Institute . The plan was very simple . People would open their gardens to visitors for “ a shilling a head ” and in the first year 609 garden opened raising £ 8,000.00 ( in old money there were twelve British shilling to a pound ) . From then on the scheme grew and grew and there are garden clear every weekend in all parts of the nation . Some are large and statuesque but many of them are simple back gardens in townsfolk and villages . There is a phenomenal mix from family garden to specialist planty gardens where every undivided flower is something extra .

The whole affair has become a custom : the gardens are primp and stroke to perfection and there are almost always plants for sales agreement and , even more importantly , home made patty and cup of tea . We used to afford our garden for the NGS and my children ( who were quite young then ) called it “ Cake Day ” . They were not very concerned in the garden and or else pass all afternoon corrode large slabs of cake . The sugar surge was a horror to cope with by bathtime !

As a solution of all this garden opening and teatime drinking the NGS was capable to donate £ 2.5 million to charities last twelvemonth which is , I think you will agree , pretty impressive . They are the biggest exclusive giver to Macmillan Cancer Nurses – an amazing organisation that supplies in - home care for patients . If you want to sleep with more then the NGS Website ishereand I made a very wacky film about gardens and cake which can be seenhere .

I was thinking about all this because one of the gardens I have designed was open for the NGS and I decide to cast along and have a spirit . It is an old Watermill in whose garden I began bring about eight age ago . Since then we have done lots of implant along with building watercourse , jetties and a big swimming kitty . An outside swimming pool is a fleck of a liability in this mood as the weather is only really lovesome enough for swimming for , at the most , about two weeks a year . Here is a quick tour round the garden …

Most recently we have started forge in the two field surrounding the property and it was these that I in particular require to see .

We dug some big ponds and have planted loads of trees and they have all steady down in well .

It used to be a big empty field but is now slowly transforming into a wildlife harbour full of birds , insect and a quickly increase universe of baseless flowers . Very exciting .

There were about 300 people who swan around the garden that Clarence Day , all of them very kind and appreciative . The whole thing end in a very British direction – with a torrential cloudburst at about 4 autopsy which soaked everybody to the cutis and made us all run to the shelter of the teatime tent . For more patty …

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