Bridgerule Village Open Gardens

For a number of years now, the villagers in Bridgerule have been holding an  open gardens day, usually a Sunday in June, when a number of gardens are opened to the public. Each year the chosen charity has been the Air Ambulance. Bridgerule is on the River Tamar, usually the county boundary between Devon and Cornwall, so both the Devon and Cornwall Air Ambulances are supported on this day.

The 2020/21 openings were cancelled because of covid restrictions and at the moment there are no plans to go ahead in the future.

Here are some pictures of previous celebrations:

In 2016, the tenth anniversary, we were pleased to welcome Anne Swithinbank (well known gardening author and regular panelist on Gardeners Question Time, radio 4) and her husband John to open the event for us.

Yes, that really is Anne Swithinbank and her husband John standing with me in the Alan’s veg. garden, in the rain! They very kindly agreed to open the 10th Anniversary Bridgerule Open Gardens on 19th June in aid of the Devon and Cornwall Air Ambulance. It poured with rain all day but they stayed smiling and made a tour of all ten gardens that were open  - after all, real gardeners don’t mind rain do they!

  ‘The Bridge Mill was delightfully informal with a wildness that takes an experienced hand to manage. This continued into a herb garden and lean-to greenhouse of great charm. By contrast, a veg garden using slate to edge slightly raised beds was formal and productive’

It poured with rain all day but Anne and John stayed smiling and made a tour of all ten gardens that were open, talking to the garden owners and members of the public, after all, real gardeners don’t mind rain do they!

The total raised that day was an amazing £3600!