Over the bank holiday weekend the small village of Pebworth welcomed visitors from as far afield as Iceland, South Africa, Canada and the US as well as those who live more locally, when 13 gardens were opened by their owners in aid of the National Garden Scheme. The hundreds of visitors were able to enjoy a display of Morgan cars, to buy plants and gardening books, to listen to the church bells and to relax with a delicious tea in the village hall. Some gardens have been newly created with either a view to low-maintenance or for a more contemporary style while others are well established cottage gardens and obviously cared for by people who love plants. In one a musical trio played in a summer house while another had an artist’s studio displaying hand printed items. And around the village visitors could spot scarecrows made on the theme of "100 Years of Inspiring Women” to tie in with this year’s planting scheme of purple white and green, the colours of the suffragettes. Beatrix Potter was the winner, with Amy Johnson (complete with airplane) and Frida Kahlo the artist joint seconds.

The scores of volunteers of all ages, putting up signs beforehand, manning ticket sales and organising car parking for 100s of vehicles, baking cakes, serving endless cups of tea and preparing the rest of the village by mowing verges were praised by the NGS organiser Wendi Bowron-Weller “we’ve had a fantastic weekend with so many compliments for the beautiful gardens and have raised over £5,000 for charities like Macmillan Cancer Support as well as approximately £2000 for our village projects. It’s been a real community effort."

JENNY MCLEISH