If you want a fairly short walk and enjoy looking at gardens, get hold of a copy of the NGS Yellow Book and find gardens open for charity near you.

Over 3700 National Garden Scheme members open their gardens to the public every year for charity and with health and safety a high priority, many of the gardens are easily accessible, have refreshment facilities and will provide around 3/4 hour of gentle exercise.

Heritage

The National Gardens Scheme was founded in 1927 to raise money for the nurses of the Queen’s Nursing Institute
In 1980 The National Gardens Scheme Charitable Trust was established as an independent charity, with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother as Patron and Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester as President.

Macmillan Cancer Relief joined the list of beneficiary charities in 1984 and in subsequent years other charities joined including; Marie Curie Cancer Care, Help the Hospices and Crossroads Caring for Carers.

Yellow Book

Published annually in February by The National Gardens Scheme (NGS), The Yellow Book has detailed listings of thousands of gardens open for visiting, and is packed with photographs of gardens and informed comment.

No matter where you live or where you travel, you can always find an NGS open garden near you to enjoy.

NGS Website

The online Garden Finder helps you plan garden visits by dates, by location, garden name or by specific garden feature. If you want to visit a garden with something special, for example a garden design by the celebrated Gertrude Jekyll, simply type in the keyword search box – you can even specify county and time of year.

More information

BBC2 Open Gardens – Presented by Carol Klein, takes a look at people developing their gardens with a view to getting into the “Yellow Book”

National Garden Scheme website