People who opened their private gardens to visitors in aid of Hospiscare this summer have helped the charity raise nearly £52,000.

Hospiscare Open Gardens ran from May to September and involved 40 keen gardeners in the area, who welcomed members of the community in return for a donation.

This year the initiative raised £51,716.44 – a record amount – to support specialist end-of-life care in Exeter, Mid and East Devon.

Midweek Herald: Garden at Coryhill, HonitonLaura Robertson, Fundraising Projects Manager at Hospiscare, said: “This is the 15th year we have run the Hospiscare Open Gardens programme, with this year being one of our biggest yet and raising a record-breaking amount for our local charity.

“We’re so grateful for the incredible amount of support we receive year after year from our community across Devon, and of course our ongoing event sponsor, Otter Garden Centres – we couldn’t do it without everyone involved!”

Midweek Herald: Pollinator Garden at Blackbury Honey FarmAmong those that opened to visitors was the Pollinator Garden at Blackbury Honey Farm in Southleigh. Owner Maureen Basterfield said: “We met with many lovely people who made it a pleasure to open Blackbury Honey Farm for Hospiscare. Our visitors are so keen to support a local charity that so many of them have had personal experience of.”

Jacqui Taylor, Managing Director at Otter Garden Centres said: “We were delighted to support Hospiscare once again this year and loved seeing all the beautiful Open Gardens. This is a very special charity for us, which is why we also chose Hospiscare again as our charity of the year at our Ottery St Mary Garden Centre. The team are proud to support the outstanding work of their nurses in our East Devon community as well as across Exeter and Mid Devon.”

Hospiscare supports nearly 2,000 patients and their families every year across Exeter, Mid and East Devon, and needs to raise around £10 million a year to continue doing so. Just 18 per cent of the charity’s income comes from the NHS.

Anyone interested in opening their garden for Hospiscare in 2024 is asked to contact fundraising@hospiscare.co.uk or call 01392 688020 to find out more.