Leicestershire National Garden Scheme Snowdrop and Winter Gardens Opening February and March 2024
There is something irresistible about snowdrops. Their delicately nodding flowers lift our spirits and tell us spring is coming.
Leicestershire National Garden scheme has four snowdrop gardens opening in February. The first to open is The Acers at 10 The Rills, Hinckley, LE10 1NA, on Sunday 18th Feb. from 10.30-4pm. The garden owner is a keen galanthophile and you can expect over 200 varieties on display alongside Trilliums, Cyclamen, scented Hamamelis, and Erythronium. On sale will be tea and homemade cakes, and a plant sale of snowdrops including some rare varieties.
Also on the 18th Feb, on the other side of the county Oak Cottage at Well Lane, Blackfordby, Swadlincote, DE11 8AG opens from 10am – 4pm. Enjoy a winter walk in this large garden of over 3.4 acres with an extensive display of snowdrops and hellebores in flower.
There are two more gardens opening on the weekend of 24 and 25th February.
Hedgehog Hall, Loddington Road, Tilton on the Hill LE7 9DE opens from 11am – 4pm. A beautifully maintained garden with a collection of over 300 snowdrops, winter flowering hellebores, cyclamen and shrubs. The snowdrops are displayed on terraces so you can view in close up, and take photographs of many different species. There will be refreshments on sale at St Peter’s Church.
Winter snowdrop display Hedgehog Hall
The second garden opening on the same weekend from 11am – 4pm is Westview 1 St Thomas’s Road Great Glen LE8 9EH. In addition to over 300 varieties of snowdrops, there will be winter colour provided by winter aconites, ranunculus, iris reticulata and early narcissus, planted with evergreen ferns, and box hedging.
The owners also expect crocus, scented shrubs such as witch hazel, Sarcococca and Daphne, to be flowering. There will be homemade soup and rolls on sale to fend off any winter chill.
On the 3rd March, we have an early spring garden opening in Melton Mowbray, at Tresillian House 67 Dalby Road LE13 0BQ from 11am – 4pm. This garden displays spring bulbs, blossom and spring flowering shrubs such as Camellia and Magnolia.
Visiting one of our lovely winter gardens helps nursing and cancer charities. Thanks to the generosity of garden owners, our volunteers and garden visitors, in 2023 The National Garden Scheme donated over £3.4 million to our best loved charities, including Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK and The Queen’s Nursing Institute.
For further details of our open gardens, accessibility, directions and admission fees and details, visit www.ngs.org.uk