Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/04/2026
7:00 pm
Location
Kilmington Village Hall
Categories
Julia Tremlett was our speaker on 10th April 2026 and the subject of her talk is one that is very close to her heart. She is a committee member of the Devon NGS and she opens her garden, Bickham House near Kenn, as part of the Scheme.
Julia recounted the rich and interesting history of the National Garden Scheme which, from humble beginnings in the early 1900s, when they first started supporting district nurses, evolved into the current organisation which, almost 100 years later, donates millions of pounds to nursing and health charities.
William Rathbone, a Liverpool merchant, philanthropist and later an MP, employed Mary Robinson to nurse his wife at home during her final illness. After his wife’s death, Rathbone retained Mary’s services so that people in Liverpool who could not afford to pay for nursing would benefit from care in their homes. Seeing the good that nursing in the home could do, William Rathbone and Florence Nightingale worked together to try to develop the service – and so organised ‘district nursing’ began.
The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) was founded as the next step in coordinating national standards for district nurses – and had the objectives of providing the ‘training, support, maintenance and supply’ of nurses for the sick poor, as well as establishing training homes, supervising centres, co-operating with other bodies and establishing branches as necessary.
At a QNI council meeting in 1926, council member Miss Elsie Wagg came up with the idea of raising money for district nursing through the nation’s obsession with gardening. A year later the National Garden Scheme was founded and garden owners were asked to open their gardens for ‘a shilling a head’. Almost 600 gardens opened and raised a total of £8,191. By 1930, 900 gardens opened, among which were the gardens of Sir Winston Churchill and Vita Sackville West.
After the Second World War the National Health Service and local authorities took on the home nursing service, but money was still needed to care for retired nurses and invest in training – and the National Garden Scheme continued to raise money for The Queen’s Nursing Institute.
In 1980 the National Garden Scheme became independent of The Queen’s Nursing Institute to fund a range of nursing and health charities. Macmillan Cancer Support joined the National Garden Scheme’s list of beneficiary charities in 1984 and the Scheme is their longest-standing partner and have donated over £19.6 million to date. Since then, Marie Curie, Hospice UK and Carers’ Trust have become beneficiary charities as well as Parkinson’s UK. King Charles III has continued as patron of the Scheme, having been patron when he was Prince of Wales.
Having outlined the NGS’ origins, Julia highlighted some of the gardens in Devon – they range from large, country house gardens to small private gardens but all are inspected to ensure their suitability for visitors. Some focus on healthy eating, some have plant heritage collections; others open early to showcase snowdrops, crocus and other spring flowers. All the gardens feature in the Devon Open Gardens book which is available at talks.
Julia is a witty and entertaining speaker and her humour helped to bring home the important role that the National Garden Scheme plays in supporting the caring charities.