National Garden Scheme

The National Garden Scheme opens privately owned gardens in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Channel Islands on selected dates for charity. It was founded in 1927 with the aim of "opening gardens of quality, character and interest to the public for charity". The scheme has raised over £67 million since it began, and normally opens over 3,500 gardens a year.

Volunteer County Organisers are responsible for vetting gardens to make sure they are of sufficient interest. When the scheme began 609 private gardens were opened and £8,191 was raised. A small number of the original "1927" gardens still participate in the Scheme, while many more have joined. Over 3,700 gardens were due to open in 2020 but the impact of COVID-19 meant that most openings were cancelled. However, new online virtual garden tours were introduced.

To help boost funds after COVID-19, the National Garden Scheme set up an annual fundraising event called The Great British Garden Party, encouraging everyone to enjoy outdoor spaces while raising money for the charity and championed by the charity's President, Dame Mary Berry.

The National Garden Scheme not only opens beautiful gardens for charity – it is passionate about the physical and mental health benefits of gardens too. The Scheme funds projects which promote gardens and gardening as therapy, and in 2017, launched an annual Gardens and Health Week to raise awareness of the topic.

Visitor information is published in a publication called The Garden Visitor's Handbook (formerly the Yellow Book). There is another Yellow Book for the separate Scotland's Gardens scheme.

Charities supported
Originally the admission fees raised money for district nurses, although the creation of the National Health Service in 1948 changed the nature of the support required. In 1980, the National Garden Scheme Charitable Trust was launched as an independent charity with Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother as patron. The current patron is Charles, the former Prince of Wales. The Queen's Nursing Institute is still one of the charities supported, along with Marie Curie, Macmillan Cancer Support, Hospice UK, Parkinson's UK, Carers Trust, Maggie's, Horatio's Garden, Perennial, and others that support gardening as therapy, community gardens and horticultural trainees. The National Garden Scheme runs a Community Gardens Grant programme to support health and well-being in communities around the country.

You can read about the charity's impact in their annual Impact Reports here.