Join us!

Open Gardens will be back on Sunday 14th June 2026, but we can’t do it without your help. If you’d like to open your garden, join the committee or help on the day, we’d love to welcome you to the team!

Open your garden

Could your garden be part of it? As any visitor to previous events will tell you, it doesn’t matter how big or small your garden is, and it certainly doesn’t need to be a show garden! Over the years, it’s fair to say that we have had some seriously grand and impressively designed gardens, worthy of any of the glossy magazines. But we have also featured some of the tiniest gardens in the village, which are every bit as inspirational, especially when we’re looking for ideas to take home with us. Visitors love to see a wide range of garden sizes and styles, and to see work in progress (and maybe to come back and check the progress in a few years time!). As a new gardener, or when newly arrived in the area, it’s a great way to see what plants work well. Lots of us are also looking for ways to be more sustainable, perhaps by growing our own food or by letting our garden grow wilder, to create better habitats for wildlife, so we love to learn how others have managed this. If you have an interesting project or collection or would just like to share your beautiful flowers with your community, we would love to hear from you.

Opening your garden is very rewarding. Like many of the committee members, I first got involved as a volunteer, helping on the gate of a friend’s garden. This was such a wonderful experience that it inspired me to open my own garden, twice, and I’ve been on the committee ever since. It is very satisfying to see your garden filled with villagers, young and old, meeting with friends, having a lovely day out with family, or chatting with strangers about one of your plants. Visitors also say the loveliest of things, and you’ll find yourself seeing the garden through their eyes, seeing the beauty, rather than the things that need doing.

We will support you with plenty of advice to help you to prepare for the day. We’ll hold one or two events beforehand, to provide you with all the information you need, and the opportunity to meet gardeners who have done this before. We’ll also carry out a out a risk assessment and provide liability insurance. We select the 4 charities that we will support from the nominations made by the gardeners, so this could be a great way to help a charity that you’re passionate about.

And, on the day, you can expect hundreds of visitors, perhaps live music in your garden, and the huge satisfaction of being part of this fabulous community event, seeing villagers of all generations enjoying your garden.

Committee members

We would also love to hear from you if you are interested in joining the organising committee. We are a small, friendly committee and we meet approximately monthly in the run-up to each event, which happens every other year. On the day, we sell programmes and plants on the Green, but we also get plenty of time to visit the gardens.

Photographers

If you are a photographer, perhaps you could help us to record the event. This is a great opportunity for experience if you’re studying photography, or to add to your CV; we will display the photos on our website and social media, and credit you for your work.

Musicians

An important part of Open Gardens is the live music that adds an extra, magical dimension to the day. If you are interested in performing, please get in touch. As you can see from last year’s programme, a huge range of musicians have contributed, including jazz, folk, classical, brass band and choirs.

If you think you might be interested in getting involved, it’s not too early to contact us info@opengardens.org to find out more, or come and find us at the Feast Festival Market, on the High Street, Sunday 29th June, 12-4pm.

Photo: Brian Ing