Garden extravaganza funds to enhance museum

A record total of £13,500 has been raised by one of the largest garden events in Devon this summer.

Topsham Museum is based in one of the town’s 17th century houses close to the Exe estuary, and volunteers from the Museum organised a Secret Gardens event in June.

This involved 14 ‘hidden gem’ gardens dotted around the estuary town being thrown open to visitors one afternoon: and despite uncertain weather, a record 1,600 entry programmes were sold, with some individual gardens seeing up to 1,300 visitors during just five hours.

The Secret Gardens event began in 2004 and is held every other year, although Covid many that this summer’s was the first for five years.

“This was the most successful Secret Gardens event yet and the sum raised was a perfect reward for the garden owners and volunteers who spent so long preparing for weeks before and exhibiting on the day itself” explains Rachel Nichols, president of Topsham Museum and one of the creators of the very first Secret Garden event. 

“It was absolutely joyous to see the town filled with people clutching programmes and searching out our gardens, and we sold literally hundreds of scones, slices of cake and cream teas, not to mention the success of our plant stall” she says.

The £13,500 profit will go directly to enhancing the museum collection.

Anyone who missed the event or wants a memento from the day can still buy a commemorative jute bag from the Museum or from the Topsham office of estate agency Wilkinson Grant, the principal sponsor of Secret Gardens.

Topsham Museum is open Wednesdays-to-Sundays from 2pm to 5pm until October 29. It also has a popular and frequently-updated website and virtual tour, plus an online shop. The Museum additionally has displays in a red telephone box in Topsham, serving as a year-round outpost and attraction.