Successful Open Garden for charity.

Tattenhall Hall Garden was open under the National Garden Scheme and as part of the Sandstone Ridge Festival, on Sunday 19th May, with record numbers of visitors raising a record amount of over £2,000 in one afternoon!

The money raised goes to the NGS who give it to a number of charities, Hospices UK, Macmillan Nurses, Marie Curie, MIND, Parkinson's, Carers Trust, Queens Nursing Institute and Gardeners Benevolent Society. It has donated £58 million since 1927 thanks to the generosity of garden owners, volunteers, and visitors.

The tea and cakes were provided by the 1st Tattenhall Guides, they really worked hard at this event but enjoyed the afternoon. They use the money raised to further the activities of the Guides in the village.

Lots of people came from the village who had never visited before including new residents from the retirement village.

Other people came from far and wide – from the Wirral, Liverpool, Manchester, Macclesfield, with the West Riding in Yorkshire possibly the furthest someone travelled.

Some had read an article about the garden in the English Garden magazine last year and had remembered to make a date to come this year, saying it was better than the photos!

A couple came to the garden who had lived and worked at Tattenhall Hall farm before 1995 when it was sold and had actually been married from the house! It was their anniversary treat to visit the garden. They were treated to a rare visit inside the house which has changed quite a lot since they lived here.

An extra interest was Jen's Art Shed which was open to view for the first time. It was a great success and made a change for all those who had seen too many flowers!

The garden has a number of sculptures of animals and birds by Marjan Wouda who was there to help. It is hoped next year that she will have a larger exhibition of her work in the garden, so watch this space!

Thankyou to all those who supported this event, and apologies if, as someone said, the village was in gridlock because of the number of visitors! Hopefully it was well worth it for the pleasure it gave to people and for the amount raised for charity!