Cerne Abbas’s Annual Gardens will take place from 2pm to 6pm on Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th June.
Some 25 gardens will be open around our ancient village covering a whole range of sizes and styles. The gardeners will be available to answer your questions and share their love of their gardens.
Entrance to all gardens is by a the map which also serves as a single day ticket, £8 for adults, accompanied under 16s are free. A few gardens are accessible by wheelchairs and most gardens accept well behaved dogs on leads.
There is a well-regarded plant stall and home-made teas are provided by the local Youth Club, both commencing at 1pm.
Almost all gardens are within easy walking distance of the free car park and are located on the maps.
The proceeds will be divided between our Cerne Valley Cricket Club and The Dorset Wildlife Trust.
Manor House Haslemere
https://findagarden.ngs.org.uk
IN HAMPSHIRE NGS “at work”. in 2024
This fabulous amount is an astonishing
£1.1million MORE than the NGS raised in 2023.
Of course that means we really have have to pull out all the stops in 2025 to try to surpass this figure.
As always the lions share (£2.550,00) goes to our main six nursing and health charities – some of the Countries bast loved – The Queen’s Nursing Institute: Marie Curie: Macmillan Cancer Support: Hospice UK: Carers Trust and Parkinson’s UK:
This year we have added a very significant beneficiary to our list. The John King Brain Tumour Foundation.
John King was an extremely popular chef with an international reputation. In 2015 John was diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumour, and sadly passed away in November 2016. John was treated at the Atkinson Morley Wing of St George’s Hospital in London. During John’s treatment he and his wife – Laura – discovered a roof garden (part of the Atkinson Morley Wing) which badly needed some serious attention, so with the blessing of the hospital and along with some friends they set about restoring the garden- and so The John King Brain Tumour Foundation came into being. Now along with maintaining the garden the Foundation raises thousands of pounds for neurological equipment for the hospital. I think we can be sure that the £50,000 donation will be put to good use.
So… What have we got to look forward to. Over the last few months many people have been working extremely hard to collate all the gardens opening – both new and old – in order to produce the Yellow County Booklets and the NGS Handbook, which covers all the Counties in England and Wales.
Here is Hampshire we have nine new gardens opening in 2025 – around Winchester, Eastleigh, Bishops Waltham and Beaulieu. Of course we start off with our Snowdrop and Spring Bulb Gardens………….
BRAMDEAN HOUSE Bramdean Alresford SO24 0JU
Opening: Sunday 9th February 1pm to 3.30pm
Admission: £6.50 children free. Cashless payments available.
Refreshments: Coffee, tea & cake
Beautiful 5 acre garden best known for its mirror image herbaceous borders, its 1 acre walled garden, its carpets of spring bulbs, and a large and unusual collection of plants and shrubs giving year-round interest.
https://findagarden.ngs.org.uk/garden/3145/bramdean-house
LITTLE COURT Crawley Winchester SO21 2PU
Opening: Sunday & Monday 16th & 17th February and 23rd & 24th February 2pm to 4.30pm.
Admission: £5.00 children free. Cashless payments available
Refreshments: Home-made teas in Village Hall.
Popular naturalistic garden, especially exciting in Spring.
Also open By Arrangement for Groups from Friday 15th February to 15th July. Contact Patricia Elkington 01962 776365 OR elkslc@btinternet.com
THE DOWN HOUSE Itchen Abbas SO21 1AX
Opening: Tuesday & Wednesday 18th& 19th February 1pm to 4.30pm
Admission: £10.00 children free, includes Home-made teas (Pre-booking essential) (This a very popular garden and gets booked up very quickly! PB)
A 2 acre garden laid out in rooms overlooking the Itchen Valley, adjoining the Pilgrim’s Way. In winter come and see garden structure, snowdrops, aconites and Crocus tommasinianus, plus borders of dogwoods, willow stems and white birches. Scent from daphnes, and honeysuckle. Pleached hornbeams, rope-lined fountain garden, formal box-edged potager, yew-lined avenue and walks in adjoining meadows.
ALSO open By arrangement for Groups from a minimum of 10 to a maximum of 24. £12.00 pr head – includes guided tour and home-made teas. Contact: Mark Porter 07814 958810: OR
CHAWTON HOUSE Chawton Alton GU34 1SJ
Opening: Tuesday 18th March: 10.00am to 3.30pm
Admission: Adults £8.00 Children £6.00. Cashless Payments available
Refreshments: Light Refreshments.
Daffodils and spring flowering bulbs are scattered through this 15 acre listed English landscape garden. Sweeping lawns, a wilderness, terraces and shrubbery walks surround the Elizabethan manor house.
I hope this has whetted your appetite, and that you are able to visit one or more of these stunning gardens. If you wanted to book a By Arrangement Visit for either The Down House or Little Court, now would be a good time, to avoid disappointment.
We now have a dozen or so of our very popular NGS talks already booked for 2025 (and even a couple for 2026) This last year has seen a very substantial rise in our talks, many being from word of mouth from Groups who have previously been visited by one of our very experienced and popular speakers. Mark Porter is one our speakers, he is the Hampshire NGS County Organiser and Chairman of the South East NGS Region and is passionate about the National Garden Scheme. If you would like more details about our talk, please contact me in the first instance and I will email all the information.
Following on from this Newsletter will be a second email with an attachment showing all the By Arrangement Gardens in Hampshire for 2025. By Arrangement Gardens are ideal for Groups, Clubs and Societies (equally for a group of friends or families) as it means you can have a more personalised visit at a time and date suitable to both you and the Garden Owner.
Wishing everyone a Very Happy and Healthy 2025
Best Wishes
Pat Beagley (Head of Publicity)
National Garden Society – Hampshire
Longstock Garden Club 