On Sunday 21st May this year, homes across the Richmond, Ham and Petersham area will be opening their gardens to the public in aid of local charities. In two separate events: Richmond Hill Open Gardens and Ham Open Gardens, the general public can have ticketed access to look behind closed doors at some of the area’s most stunning gardens. 

Some of the gardens being showcased range from the ornate and historic from the 17th century to the contemporary and stylish of the modern-day. All gardens for each of the events are accessible via their own ticket, but that ticket will give access to each and every garden in that event, either Ham or Richmond.

The events are primarily for raising money for local charities. For example, the Ham Open Gardens is raising money for Home-Start Richmond, a charity which provides support to families who need it most across the boroughs of Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow. It is part of “one of the leading family support charities in the UK”, and last year helped over 500 children in the Richmond borough. The families receive aid through visits from volunteers, who help them in any way they need. As one of London’s leading Independent Home-Starts, Richmond has a huge impact on the local area, and in order to continue the fantastic work they do, they rely on events such as the Open Gardens.

At the Richmond Open Gardens event two years ago, £15000 was raised in total, of which £7500 was donated to Home-Start Richmond, with the rest going to Richmond Good Neighbours. This was achieved by both selling tickets to enter the gardens, and also by selling refreshments to those attending.

Louise Kerr, Chair of Trustees of Home-Start Richmond, who opened her garden last time and is doing so again this year, said, ”We were delighted to be nominated as a beneficiary of the inaugural Richmond Hill Open Gardens day in 2015. As a garden exhibitor too, I can vouch for the fact that it was a wonderful community event which brought people together and allowed us to raise awareness of the vital work in family support that we do at Home-Start.”

Hopefully, the events on May 21st will be just as successful as in the past, both helping local charities and encouraging community spirit and appreciation for one another.