Three charities have teamed up to share a sunny, Surrey harvest this September.

Inspired by their long-standing support of Hospice UK and the charity’s sunflower logo, the Surrey National Garden Scheme approached us to share our sunflower harvest.

“We’ve been supporting Hospice UK since 1996 and at a recent meeting discussed how we could share the joy of gardens and in particular, sunflowers across the hospice network,” says National Garden Scheme Communications Manager, Vicky Flynn. “We were really excited that West Horsley Place have signed up to open their garden for us in 2023 and knowing that they had planted a beautiful community sunflower field approached them to see whether we could be part of this year's harvest.”

“The request was perfectly timed as our harvest plans were already set for this weekend (September 30 – October 1) and we’re delighted that both the National Garden Scheme and Hospice UK joined us on Friday,” says Matt Link, Estate Manager at West Horsley Place. “Having personal experience of the amazing work that hospices carry out it was great to get everyone involved and I can’t wait to see what happens next to the sunflower seed from West Horsley Place.”

Commenting, Kate Redding, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Hospice UK said: “We help support hospices across the country, many of which have gardens or outdoor spaces which are important parts of patient care – some of which open for the National Garden Scheme.

“With the sunflower as our logo, it will be wonderful to share this West Horsley Place sunflower seed with them so that they can attract birds and wildlife into their spaces – and perhaps a few seeds will take root and create bursts of colour in the gardens too.”

Our Sunflower Harvest continues tomorrow from 10am-4pm, do come on down and have a go at harvesting, threshing and winnowing. You can take birdseed home with you and enter a raffle to win one of the beautiful artworks created & donated by our local community artists who took inspiration from our sea of sunflowers. You can see all of the artworks in Place Farm Barn during the harvest. 

On Saturday (1st Oct) afternoon our textiles volunteers- the Gladrags Gang- will be running a free community craft workshop for all ages in the barn too.