National Gardens Scheme

Six stunning private gardens to mooch around, vintage teas and cakes, a classical pianist, plants for sale, an ice cream parlour, bee keeping advice and honey and woodcrafts for sale. Sounds like a lovely day out, doesn’t it?

This is what’s on offer from the Didsbury Village Gardens Group, who are opening up their green spaces in aid of the National Gardens Scheme (NGS) on Sunday 11th June, from 12 noon to 5pm. Tickets cost £6 for all six gardens, from 68 Brooklawn Drive, M20 3GZ or new garden 23 Cranmer Drive on the day. Children go free.

We asked Didsbury garden designer Anne Britt to tell us more:

What’s it like opening your garden: It’s great to be able to share our private garden with others. I love visiting gardens myself and having a good nosey around; I get so many ideas to copy at home, both design and planting ideas. Our six Didsbury gardens are all so different and really beautiful, including a sleek contemporary space, a romantic cottage garden, and a truly atmospheric shade garden. There’s something for everyone to get inspiration from.

Anything new to see?

Yes! All the gardens change every year. But we also have a great new garden opening at 23 Cranmer Road. They’ll be doing wonderful teas with homemade cake, all accompanied by a classical pianist as well as selling great plants, ice creams, honey and woodcrafts.

You raise a lot of money – who benefits? All the money raised goes to the NGS charities, which include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK and Parkinson’s UK.

It’s a great day out, so please make a note of Sunday 11th June (12 til 5pm) and come and enjoy a peek behind the gates of some really beautiful private gardens.