Double delight for keen Shropshire gardening couple
A couple have raised nearly £40,000 for charity after opening their beautiful garden to visitors for the last 10 years.
Fiona Chancellor, 61, and her husband George have developed their garden over the last 30 years – and in the last decade have raised between £3,000 and £4,000 a year.
This Sunday the green-fingered couple will open their own patch of paradise in Little Wenlock to the public for the last time this season.
This year all the money raised will go to Macmillan Nurses, Marie Curie and Hospice UK.
“I’ve always believed you feel most relaxed in the garden,” Fiona said. “Medical science is coming out to say the best therapy is to ditch the pills and get into the garden. It’s a great hobby, and it’s really nice to share it.
“The National Garden Scheme is a great way to raise money for really worthwhile charities. It’s a lovely way of doing what one loves doing anyway, which is to garden and to share it with people who appreciate it.”
The couple have been opening up their home, Windy Ridge in Church Road, for the last decade, and now have hundreds of different types of flowers on display.
The garden, which is across about three quarters of an acre, always proves a popular destination for those who love gardening.
“A lot of gardens you can go to are on big estates – through the National Trust and things like that,” Fiona said. “They’re beautiful, but you can’t aspire to that. We’re about as big as a garden goes, but it’s all split into individual areas. Visitors can do that sort of thing at home.
“A chap came last time and had photographs, he was showing me his borders. He said ‘I went home and followed all your ideas’. That was really nice.
“Our garden has a strong design element to it. The planting itself is very full – there isn’t a single space left for weeds to grow.
“We have well over 1,000 different varieties of plant growing in it, a lot of which are labelled. We get visitors from all over the world.”
Despite tough growing conditions – cold snaps, storms, hot weather and droughts – Fiona said the challenge was in the planning.
“It’s been a tough year for gardeners, but I’m a great believer in the right plant in the right place,” she added. “The planting is fairly tough and self-sufficient, it’s designed to cope with whatever the weather throws at it.”
The couple won Shropshire Garden of the year in 2005, followed by the Daily Mail National Garden Competition in 2008.
In 2011 Windy Ridge was named the best garden in the Midlands by the Gardeners’ World Live Show.
Members of the public can explore its delights from midday to 5pm on Sunday. Signs will be up in Little Wenlock directing motorists to a field where they will be able to park. Entry costs £5.
Other events:
There will be three other homes in Shropshire where the gardens will be open in the coming weeks.
The steep garden at 48 Bramble Ridge, Bridgnorth, will open on September 9 from 12.30pm until 5.30pm. Part wild, part cultivated, it overlooks the Severn Valley with views to High Rock.
Sunningdale, in Mill Street, Wem, is a wildlife haven for squirrels, voles, and a huge variety of birds. It will be open from 11am until 4pm on September 9.
And Ruthall Manor, in Ditton Priors, Bridgnorth, known for its mature collection of specimen trees and winding paths, will open on September 15 from 1pm until 6pm.
For more information, or to get involved in the National Garden Scheme, visit ngs.org.uk
