Grange-over-Sands garden raises £100,000 for nursing and caring charities

It’s the 21st year that owners, Margaret and Jonathan Denby, have opened their private family garden at Yewbarrow House under the National Garden Scheme (NGS). And this month, they raised just under £1,500, taking their running total to just over £100,000.

OWNER: Jonathan Denby beside a Tetrapanax papyrifera 'Rex' or Rice Paper Plant in his garden at Yewbarrow House, in Grange-over-Sands. It opens as a fundraiser for the NGS

The garden opens again, as an NGS fundraiser, between 11am and 4pm on Sunday, July 3, Sunday, August 7 and Sunday, September 4.

Grainne Jakobson, assistant county organiser for NGS Cumbria, saID: “It’s a great achievement and a record for a Cumbria NGS. Jonathan made a very significant contribution to our charity – and thus to our many nursing and caring beneficiaries. The garden has brought so much enjoyment to thousands of visitors, who often arrive in coachloads. We couldn’t be prouder of him.”

A delighted Jonathan adds: “We’ve had unbelievable support from the public, braving the weather to visit us. Much of the credit goes to my wife Margaret and our three children, whose excellent cream teas swell the coffers. The money we raise goes to charities like Macmillan, making it extra especially worthwhile. So, we’re hoping lots of people will come to our next three NGS open days.”

FAMILY: Georgina Denby, who helps serve cream teas in the family garden, as a fundraiser for the NGS, next to a bronze statue of herself by Martin Duffy, commissioned by her dad, Jonathan

It's been an enriching experience for Jonathan too, as he explains: “It’s led to me designing show gardens in Japan, and for the RHS flower shows at Chelsea and Hampton Court, plus to studying garden history, an MA and now a DPhil at Oxford.”

Overlooking Morecambe Bay, with views to the Yorkshire Dales, the garden stands above the coastal town of Grange-over-Sands. Johnathan and Margaret have expertly risen to the challenge of creating a series of gardens, on a 30 degree slope. They include sunken, kitchen and fern gardens. As well as Japanese and Italian gardens, trial beds, an orangery and a palm house with a lap pool.

OPEN: The private family garden, at Yewbarrow House, opens as a charity fundraiser on Sunday 3 July, Sunday 7 August and Sunday 4 September.

Sculptures, by Alan Ward and Martin Duffy, provide interest and fun; and there are stories around every corner. From the stained glass windows in the potting shed, to plants named after family members. New for this year is the reinstallation of a renovated Victorian Aviary, as a tea pavilion, from their Chelsea show garden.