How did TMA Open Gardens start?

As we celebrate the success of Open Gardens 2022, it is worth looking back to the roots of the event.

At TMAEG’s Annual General Meeting in October 2012, one of our members, Kathleen, suggested that we organise an Open Gardens event the following year. She had experience of being involved in an OG held annually in a suburb of Nottingham, which was greatly appreciated by residents and gave people the opportunity to share their gardens with the wider public. She offered her own garden. Members indicated that they supported the idea and a Sub Group of members volunteered to plan one for the summer of 2013.

An invitation was sent to all TMAEG members. Six offered their gardens and three more friends were recruited as members and gardeners. It was decided to hold the event on just one day in early July, to coincide with the Party in the Park, organised by the Parish Council.

We sought sponsorship from Michael Anthony Estate Agents, who contributed to the printing costs and lent their For Sale signs, modified to advertise Open Gardens, to locate each garden. This did, however, lead to some confusion to passers-by. The weather was fine and 160 Yellow Passports were sold. Some gardeners provided teas or sold plants to raise funds for their own favourite charities.

Following that success, TMAEG planned a stand-alone weekend event for 2014, in late June. This time 12 gardens, nine of them fresh, were on display. For the first time, two were in the Fairways area and two on the Approach. The year before, the single garden on the Approach had felt rather neglected, being so far from the others on the Westcliffe/ Leafield/Cornhill spine. We realised that getting ‘clusters’ was essential.

The weather – always the greatest risk factor – nearly ruined the event. A torrential downpour as gardens opened on Saturday threatened to spoil the day but, after an hour, the sun came out and magically everything looked fresher and brighter than ever. There was a repeat performance on the Sunday, but again all turned out well. 141 Passports were sold and all the gardeners voted it a success.

You can view some photographs from 2013/14 here.

It was decided that aiming to hold the event annually was a big organisational challenge and that holding it every two years would have the advantage of whetting the public appetite. Besides, Stony Stratford’s Open Gardens took place on ’odd’ years so ‘even’ years for us would keep the two events from clashing. We also decided to look for reliable local sponsorship to help with the cost of printing the iconic Yellow Passports.

For 2016, we secured sponsorship from the 4 businesses in the village centre, Bargain Booze, Maria’s Fish Bar, Hair Culture and the Dental Practice, all Business Members of TMAEG. In return we carried their logos on the front of the Yellow Passports. However, it was not so easy to recruit new gardeners this time. A number of our ‘regulars’ had moved away or, sadly, died. Only 8 whole gardens were offered. We decided to develop our programme by adding 2 Special Front Gardens and to highlight 4 TMAEG environmental sites that had been developed over the previous 2 years. These were the new garden at the end of Kepwick, which had previously been a neglected, weedy verge, the woodland walk linking Milesmere and Thorncliffe to the Green Ride beyond, the newly created log and chipping path on the edge of the Golf Course and the Bee Garden behind Haithwaite, on the bank of the Ash Brook. Unfortunately, the weather was not very kind, with showers and some sun on the Saturday and more suitable weather on the Sunday, when 3 times more people bought Passports, a grand total of 110.

Undeterred by the damp event of 2016, 2018 promised an expanded Open Gardens. The environmental projects had proved a popular addition to the programme and the front gardens had provided a link between clusters and individual gardens.

We now had 13 full gardens open, between the Fairways area and down the Milesmere/Stonehill/Cornhill/Tavelhurst spine, with 2 outliers on Farinton and The High Street. To link these by an interesting route we enlisted the support of Radcote Lodge, which kindly opened their back garden, with some maintenance work done by MK Green Gym volunteers. Radcote Lodge also sold teas and provided seating. Yellow Passports had been delivered to houses in Great Holm which lay close to the southern edge of Two Mile Ash, to attract visitors to those less central gardens.

A special attraction in 2018 was a garden recently designed by Mark Lane (BBC TV Gardeners’ World) to be fully wheelchair accessible and also enjoyable for people with visual impairment. Mark himself was there on the Saturday and members of the public were able to meet him and discuss the features with him. In addition to the previous environmental projects, the new Fernery was introduced as well as the newly created Twin Gardens and Park Gateway display between the Dental Practice and Hair Culture.
The weather at the turn of June/July 2018 was sunny and hot, almost too hot for some, and 212 Passports were sold with 1,648 individual garden visits, a great success.

You can view lots of photographs of the 2018 event here.

Plans for a 2020 Open Gardens were underway when Covid-19 struck. It was soon evident that Open Gardens could not go ahead that summer. It was suggested that maybe a Virtual Open Gardens could, to some extent, take its place. Eight gardeners pledged that their gardens would be ready for the Virtual Display by early June. They also added a little description of the whole garden. Some chose to photograph their own garden while others let professional photographer and member David Barratt take a batch of photos. Our Webmaster and designer, Chris Monk crafted them into a gloriously sunny gallery to enjoy during those days of isolation and lockdown. You too can visit it here.

Eventually, as Covid restrictions reduced, it was decided to go ahead with our latest event the Fifth Two Mile Ash Open Gardens, to take place on the 11th-12th June 2022. Our Sub-group first met in February and worked hard to assemble an attractive variety of gardens. The idea of adding special front gardens as links between the whole gardens was used again, as a number of residents had created very interesting features out of some rather challenging spaces.

We also decided to highlight our latest environmental projects, of which the most ambitious was the Bluebell Circuit. Of course the bluebells would no longer be in flower in June but the newly connected half-mile trail through managed woodland provided a new place to walk and take in the effects of the changing seasons.

There was not a great response to our invitation to members and to residents generally, via Facebook, to offer whole gardens. Maybe the pandemic had made people wary of public interaction or maybe, after two summers of lockdown, people had plans to visit family and travel.

This time we included guided visits around the Stonehill Allotments and highlighted the Community Garden on The High Street, not a project of ours but established by the late Janice Cristoe to involve local people in beautifying and maintaining this high profile area in the heart of the village.

An attractive programme was put together and presented, with its map, in the Yellow Passport, which was again delivered to every home in TMA as well as a couple of hundred in Great Holm. Again we relied on a splendid team of dedicated volunteers to deliver over 2,000 Passports.

The weekend weather was ideal, dry and sunny but not too hot. We had a record number of visitors – 236 Passports were sold and 1,184 individual visits to full gardens were made. Despite a massive increase in printing costs, sponsorship and Passport takings resulted in a useful sum for TMAEG’s projects.

So, what now? Will there be a TMA Open Gardens 2024? Given the popularity of the event, it would be great to see yet another exciting weekend by, and for, Two Mile Ash residents in two years’ time. It all depends on you!

If you have been inspired by this little history of our Open Gardens, and would like to be part of a future event, either to offer your garden or to help with organisation, do get in touch. We’d love to hear from you!

Pavla Gossop