Open gates – Friday, 1st March 2024
Not long now and we’ll be throwing our gates open and welcoming all of you back to our garden on the 1st March, with free entry for all on our first day of opening!
2024 is going to be a very exciting year for us, what with our lottery fund news and setting up our new project Learning to Grow. We’ve also made some changes to our admissions offering this year. Unfortunately, like many organisations, we have had to increase our admission fee slightly. But that said, it is very important to us that we also give back, as that sits at the very heart of our ethos.
New admission rates
- Our day pass has increased to £10 per person. (£11 with gift aid.)
- We’ve retired our season ticket. Please note that in-date season tickets will remain valid until they expire.
- We’re introducing a new Annual Pass which will let you enter the garden as many times as you wish for one year, during garden opening hours. Annual Passes will cost £15 online, or £16 on the door. Please apply online.
- Residents Passes for our communities within 6 miles of Helmsley will continue to cost £10 per person. Please bring residential ID and apply at the kiosk.
- RHS members will continue to be able to enter the garden for free on Wednesday (lead member only for joint memberships).
- Gardener’s World two-for-one offers, or 25% off a solo ticket, will only be available on Fridays.
- CPRE members are eligible for 2 for 1 day passes or 25% off a solo ticket with a valid CPRE voucher on entry.
- Carers accompanying a disabled person do not need to purchase a ticket.
- Children under 16 are free.
To reduce your queuing time this year, we strongly recommend you book online before you visit us. Annual passes will be more expensive on the door, as our kiosk volunteers will need to complete the application on your behalf.
What’s happening in the garden?
Garden volunteers have been back for most of February, getting stuck into weeding and cutting back. Spring is slowly starting to emerge from her winter’s slumber and we can see crocuses and snowdrops and it won’t be long before the daffodils bring some colour to proceedings. There are lots of plans afoot with the kitchen garden. Deciding what to plant – vampire chillies, mini cucumbers and chia are some of the options that have made the cut, and we’ve been thinking about ways to protect our brassicas this year.
Kiosk volunteers will join us again in March, having attended a training session this month. We can’t wait to have our crew back together again. Louise has done a wonderful job refreshing our shop, and our Garden Centre has lots of interesting and unusual home-grown bulbs for sale already.
The Vine House Cafe is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm, with their usual delicious fare. They’ll be serving lunch between 11am and 3pm.
We have lots of exciting workshops lined up this year, with more to come, so keep your eye on our What’s On page and our social channels, or sign up to our newsletter.
New for this year, we will be offering a free guided tour each month, from April to September. You’ll learn more about our history and the design of the garden, and tours will last approximately 1 hour. Paid entry to the garden is required (Annual Passes, Residents Passes & Season tickets are all valid as paid entry).
We can’t wait to see you all soon!
Filed under: News
