Across France this year, over 50 gardens will open their doors to visitors in order to raise money for charity. Open Gardens/Jardins Ouverts celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2024. It brings together gardeners and garden lovers to celebrate the garden in all its variety, style, size and location, from the mountains to the coast. Over the years, the organisation has raised over 150,000€ for ill and disabled children.
A love of gardens supports children’s charities
Jardins Ouverts was formed in January 2014 after the success of four garden visits the year before. These were organised by the British owners of private gardens in La Creuse, who were inspired by the UK’s National Garden Scheme. They raised 300€ and donated it to a charity for children and young people.
Encouraged by their success, the target of the newly formed Jardins Ouverts was to open 12 gardens to the public for one weekend and to raise 1,000€ for the same charity – À Chacun son Everest (To each his Everest). In the end, 28 gardens participated across four départements. A quarter of the participating gardens were French-owned and the rest were maintained by British residents. Jardins Ouverts now supports 7 charities and actively seeks new French and English members to open their gardens under the scheme.
The gardens
Most of the gardens involved are privately run and not usually open to the public. They bring pleasure to the people who have created and tended them and who open them on at least one day a year to share this pleasure with others. Each garden visit will bring with it a chance to find out more about the plants that thrive in its particular conditions and to get inspiration for your own garden, or outdoor space, wherever that may be. Many of those hosting will also offer refreshments, and there may even be an opportunity to buy young plants to take home with you, all sold to provide funds for charity.
The charities supported
À Chacun son Everest was founded in 1994 by the first French woman to conquer Everest. Jardins Ouverts has donated over 70,000€ in total to the association, which uses outdoor activities to help restore confidence in children and young people in remission from cancer. Quelque Chose en Plus (Something More) is based just outside Paris, supporting children and adolescents with multiple disabilities. Jardins Ouverts has donated over 17,000€ to them over ten years.
Since 2015, Jardins Ouverts has also supported 16 other associations, particularly those dealing with ill or disabled children. Donations total 44,000€ and include 1,000€ last year to support Ukrainian refugee children. Once an agreement is in place to help a charity, Jardins Ouverts aims to continue to support them for a number of years to aid forward planning.
Remarkable Gardens
In addition to the privately owned gardens that form the backbone of the scheme, some nationally recognised gardens partner with Jardins Ouverts. They offer events and activities designed to raise money for charity. One of these Jardins Remarquables, is Jardin Lacore, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Now open by appointment to the general public, owner Alain Gribet first opened his garden under the Jardins Ouverts scheme. He plans to continue to do so for one day each year to raise money for the charities it supports.
Afternoon tea
Another partner garden in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the Arboretum de la Sédelle, held an afternoon tea event in 2023, which it plans to repeat on Sunday 21st July from 2pm to 6pm. This includes a tour of the arboretum in French or English. More events are planned with partner gardens and these will be posted on the website and on the Jardins Ouverts Facebook page.
Plan your visit
With over 50 Jardins Ouverts open across the whole of France from this month, the chances are you will find at least one to visit this year. The website includes a map of the gardens, if you want to search by location or postcode, and a calendar of open gardens and events if you prefer to search by date. You can buy an annual membership to support the scheme and visit as many gardens as you like across the season, or just pay to visit each one.
Get involved
President of Jardins Ouverts, Sue Lambert, told The Good Life France, “we are always looking for new venues to open on our behalf, but we often hear gardeners say that their garden isn’t good enough. Our answer to that is that if you have sufficient interest for a 30-minute visit, you will probably be accepted. Even if you don’t, if there is a garden close to you which does, you can team up. All we ask is that you open your garden for at least one day per year. If your garden brings pleasure to you, it will almost certainly bring pleasure to others.”
Sue is also looking for coordinators with good organisational skills. Coordinators usually look after a small group of gardens (anything from three upwards) and keep in touch with the gardeners. They help them to advertise their opening, maybe helping to find people for them who will take money at the gate or who can help them by serving refreshments.
“There has been a lot of change within the association over the last year,” Sue says, “with several people retiring. In this our 10th anniversary year, we need as much help as possible to continue to support as many charities as we can in the future. As the new president, I am very positive about this and hope we can encourage new people to become involved.”
Support
Sponsorship is invaluable to the development of Jardins Ouverts, whether through financial assistance, expert advice, publicity or other services for which there would normally be a charge. This support increases the amounts donated to charity each year, and contributes directly to the expansion of the scheme across France.
Award-winning estate agents Leggett Immobilier International provided the funding to design and develop the website and data management system. Leggett has also funded publicity leaflets, marketing and contributed towards other expenses. And Joanna Leggett, Head of Marketing for Leggett opens her own garden to the public as part of the scheme and says “We are proud to be the principal sponsor and supporter of Open Gardens/Jardins Ouverts and wish the charity and garden owners every success in the coming year. We are also proud to be playing a part in helping to establish this association as a national charity in France and, by so doing, enabling increasing funds to be raised for worthy French causes.”
Find out more
Follow the organisation on Facebook at www.facebook.com/opengardensjardinsouverts to see the latest additions to this year’s calendar and for news and updates. To find out more about Open Gardens/ Jardins Ouverts and to plan your visit there’s more information at www.opengardens.eu/homepage
If you want to look into opening your own garden to the public, visit www.opengardens.eu/get-involved/open-your-garden/
