An open gardens event in one street in Bury St Edmunds “lifted everyone’s spirits” as well as supporting a charity.
With the town’s Hidden Gardens event for St Nicholas Hospice Care only happening virtually this year due to coronavirus, resident Melissa Chalmers decided to organise one where she lives while sticking to social distancing guidelines.
MORE: Last chance to see the gardens you’ve transformed in lockdownIn Norfolk Road 19 houses agreed to open up their gardens on Sunday, June 21, raising more than £600 for the hospice charity.
Mrs Chalmers said she planned a route and everyone chose their own time slot to start off, with everyone following the same route with staggered start times so there was no overlapping.
“The whole street came together to open up their gardens, and fortunately the sun came out too!
“One house ran a plant sale, the children of another ran a sweet shop and one house offered table service for food and drink that they provided.
At the start house there was a leaflet that was produced by a lovely neighbour called Jayne Stokes that had the open gardens route on it and a bit of info about each of the gardens on it.”
She said her neighbours said it had “lifted everyone’s spirits” and they enjoyed showing people around their gardens they had worked so hard on during lockdown.
“Everyone loved it so much they want me to organise it every year from now on. It was such a successful event that I think I might have to,” she added.
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