National Garden Scheme opening two gardens, in Hawton and Gonalston, for charities

Two village gardens will be opening this weekend to raise money for good causes.

The gardens will be opening as part of the National Garden Scheme, with money raised for the National Garden Trust going to beneficiaries including Hospice UK, Carers Trust and Marie Curie.

On Sunday(August 17), The Poplars, on Cotham Lane in Hawton, will be opening from 2pm to 5pm.

A 1.3-acre garden extensively reimagined by owners Ian and Michael over the last three years, The Poplars offers a diverse mix of plants cleverly positioned into geometric borders that create paths around the gardens , which combine formal topiary with grasses, colourful dahlias, sunflowers, roses, and softer planting.

The Mediterranean Garden soaks up the sun on a patio reclaimed from the old surround of a pond, with large pots with olive trees underplanted with lavender, mounds of thyme, rosemary, and sage, looking beyond to the spring meadow.

This part of the garden contains one of the rarest trees in the world — a Wollemi Pine — and is wrapped around an early Georgian farmhouse

The Newark U3A Ukelele Happy Band will be performing in the garden during the event, is wheelchair accessible and dog friendly, with plants and refreshments for sale, and card payments are accepted.

Then on both Saturday and Sunday, Allington, on Gonalston Lane in Gonalston, will also be open from 2pm to 5pm.

This garden, surrounded by mature trees, such as Oak and Scots Pine, has been created over the last 14 years by the owners Catharine and Neil Bailey to complement their Victorian red brick house.

After rabbits ate much of their original plants, the garden now provides a home for wildlife with hedgehogs, a hare, a green woodpecker, and the occasional visit from a passing deer, but thankfully the rabbits have moved on.

Past the tranquil front garden, lies a rose garden inspired by photos in old books. The central circular bed is surrounded by others, edged with box and filled with fragrant roses, old and new, in shades of pink and purple and buff. The colour theories of Gertrude Jekyll are brought to life in the Long Border.

It encompasses the whole colour spectrum from white thought blue to yellow, orange and the hottest shades of red. It’s full of late summer flowering perennials like Dahlias, Kniphofia and Phlox. The productive side of the garden includes a potager, a small orchard, and a decorative greenhouse and visitors can taste ripe mulberries in the knot garden.

The garden is divided into rooms by yew hedges.

Allington is wheelchair accessible apart from the gravel paths and is dog friendly, with plants for sale, refreshments and card payments available.