When retired husband and wife, George and Susan first moved into their home with Futures in 2021, they never expected they’d one day transform their garden of gravel and weeds into one fit for 250 visitors.
Every two years the village of Braunston in West Northamptonshire hosts an open garden show to raise money for charity. Due to the colourful transformation of George and Susan’s gardens (both front and back) they were asked if they could be one of the few homes that take part in the event.
George said: “When we first moved in the back garden was totally bare, nothing but gravel, weeds and an uneven patio, and the front garden was just a lawn with even more weeds. I started by taking the patio out, and underneath was tonnes of sand. I got rid of all the rubble, made it level and put some borders in before putting down some astro turf.”
Susan said: “It’s quite funny as everyone else is out with their lawn mower and George is out with the hoover!”
Their garden has lots of large, colourful plants and flowers, as well as a raised vegetable garden at the front of their home where they grow and eat cauliflowers, tomatoes, courgettes, cabbages and runner beans.
George has also successfully built an amazing summer house from scratch, he said: “It took me two months to build and I’m very proud of it. I’ve tried to do it on the cheaper side and sourced items like the doors and windows from different places, we were in Coventry and I got some windows for £10 and the French doors from another place for £20!”
George uses the summer house to sit and read as well as a space to join committee meetings with Futures, as he’s a customer member of our Insight Committee. The committee helps us to understand the customer’s point of view and ensures our services meet people’s needs.
The open garden event raised a grand total of £2500 for Macmillan this year, with 14 gardens open for show. People pay £5 a ticket and are given a map with all the gardens pointed out across the village.
George said: “Several young ladies said they were getting rid of their husbands to get me to come and do their gardens!”
George, 77 and Susan, 73 will celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary in November this year.
Susan said: “I’m the plant lady and he’s the digger and ‘throw-it-awayer’. George has done the donkey work and created the garden and now it’s my job to keep it going. I enjoy plotting a plant, and if it grows it grows. I’m not regimented with it, so I sometimes just put them all in together, as I don’t mind them intertwining with each other.”
