Croston Open Gardens ran for many years in the village before the sad death of Linda Websdell, who was its founder. When we were inspired to relaunch this village event one of the first people we talked with was Roy Websdell, Linda’s husband.

He was delighted that Linda’s work and legacy was to be continued; he said “Linda would have loved that people are reopening their gardens in a support of a good cause, and showcasing their amazing recovery after the devastating floods of December 2015.

On Sunday 9th July 2017 the revived Croston Open Gardens event took place. There were 16 gardens open for people to enjoy ranging from new to established, small to large, those designed for the children of a family to enjoy, those that require many hours of dedication to maintain and  those needing less attention. The Croft Field was also included on the list of places to visit, this is a public space behind the church that is maintained by a group of volunteers.
 

As well as the beautiful gardens to visit, there were displays from Leyland Morris Men and planting demonstrations. Croston WI provided tea and home-baked cakes at the Old School to ensure that garden visitors were not hungry or thirsty. There were also rugs provided for those who wanted to picnic in Bishop Alan Chester’s Wood and church grounds.

Children were provided with a treasure hunt to find the answers to in each of the gardens, with all the completed ones going into a lucky dip to win a prize. There was a plant sale and also a raffle, with prizes donated by so many local businesses and individuals.

Local artist, Charlie Holt, ran a special project with the children at St Michael and Holy Trinity Primary School. This became a wonderful art installation by the famous and much photographed bridge in the village and was certainly the source of much admiration and many “selfies”.

We had over 500 visitors and raised £3,500 for Croston Together – which was fantastic! However the whole day provided a wonderful opportunity for villagers and many visitors from far and wide to enjoy the hidden gems of Croston. Also for those who opened their gardens to enjoy meeting equally enthusiastic garden lovers.

We are grateful for sponsorship from Maria B Evans and The Potting Sheds for this event.

2019 promises to be bigger & better