The garden at PortrackHouse designed by landscape architect and theorist Charles Jencks is open for just five hours every years, and despite downpours and drizzle, visitors raised £17,000 for good causes.
One of the recipients was Maggie’s, a cancer care charity named after his late wife Maggie Keswick Jencks, and its head of Trusts and Major Donors Valerie Ross said: “We were delighted to see so many people venturing out to visit Charles Jencks’ amazing Garden of Cosmic Speculation in spite of the wet weather, raising a fantastic £9350 for Maggie’s.”
With the remainder split between Scotland’s Gardens three other nominated charities, Valerie added: “Maggie’s relies on voluntary donations to be able to offer our free programme of support for people with cancer and their family and friends at Maggie’s Centres throughout Scotland, whichmeans that every penny raised makes a real difference.
“So, I want to say a huge thank you to all of the visitors who braved the rain and to all the hard-working volunteers who helped to organise and run the open day.
“I also want to thank Scotland’s Gardens for their wonderful, continued support of Maggie’s.”
The Garden of Cosmic Speculation is one of many private gardens in the region that open to the public for just one or two days a year through the Scotland’s Gardens scheme.
Sarah Landale, Dumfriesshire district organiser for Scotland’s Gardens, said: “It was the most amazing day because, despite the miserable weather, just under 3000 people came to visit, just under 1000 took the homemade teas and today £17,000 was banked as takings.
“They came some to pay tribute to Maggie and others to see Maggie and Charles Jencks’ beautiful garden.”
She added: “What a great combination of visitors and how uplifting the afternoon was despite the Scottish rain.”
The Garden of Cosmic Speculation opened through the Scotland’s Gardens charity which encourages gardeners to open their gardens to the public for a day and raise money for other charities, and many other gorgeous gardens will be open during the summer.
For information on the many gardens in the region which will be holding open days throughout the summer visit www.scotlandsgardens.org
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