Buxton's 'hidden treasure' garden set to open for visitors in July

The Smithy, one of the National Garden Scheme’s smallest town gardens, has been developed by Kate and Roddie MacLean over the past ten years or so and is always very popular on the Buxton Garden Trail.

Doors will be open to the public on Saturday, July 4, from 11am to 5pm and on Monday, July 6, from 2pm to 8pm.

Entry is by timed ticket, to ensure social distancing and visitor safety, purchased in advance.

Nestling in the narrow backstreets of the older part of Buxton, the garden area was originally occupied by four small terraced houses that were demolished into themselves many years ago and provide the rubble base on which the raised garden now stands.

The original walls of the houses still form a natural division to areas of the garden and the raised beds of the vegetable plot sit immediately above the limestone bedrock of the escarpment that forms higher Buxton.

Owner Roddie MacLean said: “Our July openings would have coincided with the start of the Buxton International Festival.

“Just as Buxton’s cultural organisations have suffered a loss of income due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are acutely aware that the National Garden Scheme (NGS) anticipates a drop in donations of around 80 per cent this year, which means that it will not be able to support the healthcare charities it was set up to fund.

“In opening our garden, we hope to raise awareness of the work of NGS and make a small financial contribution to help its beneficiaries.”

Buxton resident Andy Parker has produced a short video of the Smithy garden, which has been selected for the NGS ‘virtual garden tours’ web page, despite being among the smallest of the gardens that open for the NGS.

In 2020, 3,700 gardens were scheduled to open for the scheme but the current lockdown means that their gates have been closed for the first time in its history.

Purchase your ticket from the National Garden Scheme website at www.ngs.org.uk.