Record start for gardens scheme
An open gardens scheme by a charity dedicated to looking after Shropshire's historic churches has got its new season off to a record-breaking start.
Lally Cheeseman's garden at Woodgate Cottage, Loppington, was the first of the open gardens in a season covering 18 weekends up to the beginning of September.
And Richard Bifield of Shropshire Historic Churches Trust said: "The Woodgate Cottage garden was a great success for the first in our 2019 season. The Cheesemans had about 250 visitors, which was a record for them.
"The next open gardens event is at The Hurst, near Clun, which was the playwright John Osborne's house, on Sunday, May 12."
The trust is a registered charity which considers grant applications from churches and chapels of all Christian denominations for essential repairs and preservation, and more widely aims to encourage interest in the heritage of Shropshire’s churches.
Richard added: "This scheme is a major component of our fundraising efforts to help historic churches, throughout the county, meet their repair costs.
"Last year the scheme raised over £23,000 and since the scheme's inception in 1994 over £400,000 has been raised in this way."
