Has anyone.....

[Diane]

.....opened their garden to the public?

I had a glorious afternoon yesterday, wandering round the open gardens, with my daughter..all for a good cause -http://www.visit-dorset.com/whats-on/wimborne-minster-open-gardens-weekend-p635473

and admire anyone who does this. Not a weed in sight.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Diane, i haven't opened my own garden, but i do look after a couple of gardens that do, and luckily i seem to get some very nice feedback.

[Monika]

We used to open our garden and allotment for the local horticultural society, raising money for different charities every year and it was great fun getting everything ready for THE event. It certainly makes you concentrate on every detail. The society gave it up two years ago because of insurance costs and the unpredictability of the weather. Strangely, we found that people were more reluctant to visit the gardens when it was very hot rather than too wet!

And I must admit that I dislike visiting open gardens - I always feel I am intruding into somebody's private sphere in spite of the fact that they have invited you there!

[Chantal]

I've thought about it, but apart from the fact that we now don't have time to make the garden as pristine as would be required, I worry that the wrong sort of people may come round.

I'm probably paranoid, but I don't like the idea of strangers checking out our chickens, statues (one is big and expensive - although extremely difficult to move), access to the garden and possibly our house.

At least one of our cats would also go into meltdown,