Open Gardens

Cowlinge Open Gardens ran for 15 years and became a major annual event until its close in 2005.  The picture shows one of the car parks situated at either end of the village to cope with the visitor numbers (around 1000 at peak).  A summary from one of the Committee members is:

In the 15 years that Open Gardens has been running, we have been able to distribute a fantastic total of justunder £60,000. Our various charities/good causes have benefited to the tune of:Church £19,200Hospice £18,700Village Hall £9,400Wickhambrook Surgery Equipment Fund £6,300SARS £5,700MAGPAS £450In addition to all the Open Gardens there have been many other attractions that have been added over the years such as three separate refreshment venues which, at its peak, brought in over 30% of the revenue. Refreshments are a particularly difficult and labour-intensive function and thanks are due to everyone who has organised and helped in these areas. This includes the huge number of cakes, scones, sandwiches made by and donated by village people and also by friends from other places. We must, also, mention and thank the many relatives and friends from far afield who arrived year after year to help and support us in so many ways.The other money spinners have been the many stalls – Plant, Raffle, Tombola, Bottle, Cake, Book, Bric-a-brac, reserves, Local Produce. As well as these we have had displays of flowers in the church, art and craft, classic cars.To cope with the huge numbers of visitors we had 2 car parks and supplied free courtesy buses.It was thought a good idea from the very beginning to collect all the many helpers together on the day with a celebratory evening get-together as we were always so busy with our own ‘patch’, we hardly saw any other helpers during the day. In the first years we used to meet at the Three Tuns just for a drink and then moved to Lambfair House and onto the dizzy heights of a hog roast. This continued for a number of years before we moved to providing pre-prepared food. Thanks to everyone who has been involved in any way in the evening celebration over the many years.Perhaps this is a moment to reflect on the fact that this was ‘Open Gardens’ and without the actual Gardens and Gardeners who produced them none of this could have happened.Also, we should remember that each year nearly 50% of the village assisted in one way or another and equally without that help this event could not have functioned.