Beautiful gardens unlocking their secrets across Wellington and Little Wenlock

Wellington Open Gardens returns on the weekend of July 1-2 after its successful launch last summer.

This year’s line-up features 17 private gardens across Wellington, Little Wenlock and Rushton, plus the kitchen garden at the Wellington Orbit, the secret garden at Wellington Train Station and the National Trust’s Sunnycroft, which is giving exclusive access to Open Gardens ticket holders for the weekend.

The event is organised by Shropshire charity Community Resource in partnership with Love Wellington, which promotes and celebrates the town.

Stacey Teece, Fundraising Manager at Community Resource, said: “We had such a great response to our first Wellington Open Gardens event, with people asking us during the weekend what the next year’s plans were, so it was a no-brainer that we would be coming back.

“This year we have some new and exciting gardens on display, and we’ve expanded into Rushton village as well to give people even more choice of beautiful gardens to explore.”

Ticket holders will receive a wristband and a trail map of the garden locations, which will be open from 11am until 4pm on both days.

Plants and cakes will be available to buy at a number of locations, and Telford community choir The Darby Singers will also be entertaining visitors at Sunnycroft with performances taking place at 1pm and 2pm on the Saturday.

Sally Themans of Love Wellington said: “Open Gardens is fast becoming a must-see event on the Wellington events calendar. And after the success of last year, we wanted to make it bigger and better, with new gardens to discover and even some local entertainment to enjoy.

“What makes this event so special remains – local people generously opening up their gardens and sharing their knowledge, highlighting the beauty of the area while raising money for a charity that supports people locally.”

Entry wristbands and trail maps can be purchased in advance via wellingtonopengardens2023.eventbrite.co.uk