The National Garden Scheme (NGS) gives visitors unique access to over 3,500 exceptional, mainly private, gardens in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, and raises impressive amounts of money for nursing and health charities through admissions, teas, cake, plant and other related sales.
Thanks to the generosity of garden owners, volunteers, and visitors we donated £3.4 million to charities last year. Our core beneficiaries include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK, and The Queens Nursing Institute.
The NGS doesn’t just open beautiful gardens for charity – we are passionate about the physical and mental health benefits of gardens too. We also support charities doing amazing work in gardens promoting health, and grant bursaries each year to help community gardening projects.
SEAFORD – NGS GARDENS – a quick recap
The first NGS gardens to open in Seaford were Driftwood and Cupani in 2010. The following year we opened as a small trail and by 2013 both Driftwood and Cupani were opening on their own. The trail has continued for the last 11 years with some of the original gardens and in subsequent years have seen many new gardens join the trail and some gardens have retired. For many of the trail years Cupani dropped out to concentrate on solo openings. Driftwood did the same but still opens for the NGS by appointment. Cupani rejoined the trail in 2023 and continues to open by appointment for groups. Cosy Cottage also opens for groups with a unique offering of a Qi Gong & Tai Chi session in the Temple in the garden.
During the last 6 years we have enjoyed a partnership with the Sussex based charity Family Support Work, who provide the main refreshments at 34 Chyngton Road.
We have also enjoyed the support of Seaford Sunshine Strummers Ukulele Group at many of our gardens. Several Garden Owners are also artists, and their work is often displayed around the trail.
Fundraising
In 2024 the Seaford Gardens raised £6113 for NGS, plus £1325 of match funding from Santander, and over £2000 to other charities.
In addition, Cupani Garden raised a further £976 for NGS from private visits and £4816 for the Learning Disability charity Stay up Late from plant sales and refreshments on private visits.
Exciting News for 2025
We now have 14 gardens willing to open in 2025 for the Seaford Trail. Three brand new gardens are joining the group for 2025. Most gardens open twice with 3 opening on one occasion. We have made the decision to split the trail into two,roughly representing gardens north and south of the A259. It is very exciting to have Seaford gardens open on 4 Sundays in June & July. Seaford has the largest number of gardens opening for trails in the county.
SEAFORD NORTH TRAIL will open on 1 June and 6 July 2025 and comprises of
- 5 Clementine Ave
- 101 Clementine Ave
- Cosy Cottage (1 June only & by appointment)
- Madehurst
- 129 Princess Drive (NEW)
- Whitehouse, Firle Road (NEW)
SEAFORD SOUTH TRAIL will open on 22 June and 13 July 2025 and comprises of
- 34 Chyngton Road
- Cupani Garden
- 8 Downs Road
- Lavender Cottage
- Seaford Allotments (22 June only)
- Seaford Community Garden (22nd June only)
- 53 Southdown Road (NEW)
Keep a look out for our 2025 brochure which will start to appear from the end of January or browse our website from 1 January 2025.
COASTGUARD COTTAGES – NGS solo garden Seaford
We were absolutely delighted that 5 Coastguard Cottages joined NGS and opened over two weekends in 2024. Great hospitality was shown to visitors who saw a unique view of our wonderful cliffs for the first time and were treated to viewing lovely art and pottery and amazing lunch and cake. A staggering 1640 people visited over these 4 days and these openings raised £7362 for NGS and £1186 to Celebrate Cuckmere.
It was also great seeing some of the flowers and grasses that grow naturally around the cliff edges. The lovely thing about this opening is that as well as supporting the NGS nursing and health charities it also supports local artists and a local charity and has an amazing team of local people who volunteer to support the event.
GET INVOLVED
There are several ways you can get involved with NGS and the Seaford Gardens
1. Volunteering at the openings – Garden Owners need support from volunteers in a variety of tasks including putting up posters; distributing booklets, especially through community groups and clubs; helping at opening days by looking after the ticket desk or helping serve refreshments; even baking a cake would be really appreciated.
2. Open your garden in 2026 – if you think your garden would be suitable ask Aideen Jones to come and see it. (Contact below)
3. Visit the gardens – we rely on the support of all our lovely visitors so put the above dates in your diaries for 2025.
Useful contacts
Aideen Jones, Assistant County Organiser NGS and Cupani Garden
Email: sweetpeasa52@gmail.com Phone 01323 899452
Celebrating Seaford 