Caythorpe’s scarecrows raise funds for open garden charities

Tim and Carol Almond, of Caythorpe were one of hundreds of gardeners across the country who took part in the National Garden Scheme open gardens in aid of nursing charities on Saturday.

The couple moved to the village in 2013 and fulfilled their ambition of building a garden, taking on around 25 to 30 projects to transform their 800 sq metres of neglected lawn and 200 sq metres of overgrown, boggy shrubbery.

Tim and Carol have spent eight years installing over 20 mixed herbaceous beds, seven large raised vegetable beds, a cedar greenhouse, summerhouse, four sitting-out areas and a water feature.

This was their first turn in the NGS, as their plans to enter last year were scuppered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the torrential rain that poured down all afternoon, more than 150 people passed through their gates.

Tim said: “We really enjoy the garden and we decided to open it up for people and raise some money for charity.”

The couple also decided to hold a scarecrow competition for the village school as well, to really make it a community effort, and the children submitted seven entries, with one from each of the five classes at school plus entries from two individual pupils.

Every visitor to the open garden cast a vote for their favourite scarecrow, and the clear winner was Neverland class’s knight scarecrow, which bore more than a passing resemblance to year 3/4 teacher Mr Knight.

Enchanted Forest’s entry, a Very Hungry Caterpillar, came second.

“I’m not sure how much we raised, but it’s between £600 and £700 which we’re really pleased about,” Tim said.

“We enjoyed meeting everyone and we sold quite a few plants as well.”