Return of open gardens and flower festival in Northumberland village

Longhirst Open Gardens and Flower Festival is taking place on Saturday and Sunday.

A popular event in a village near Morpeth is coming back this weekend for the first time since 2019 after being forced to postpone during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Longhirst Open Gardens and Flower Festival gives visitors the chance to explore stunning private gardens, including the ‘Walled Garden’ with original John Dobson Glasshouses, admire beautiful flower festival displays in St John’s Church, discover a fascinating model railway exhibition and enjoy home-made lunches and teas.

This year, there will also be some special events to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – including live music from local bands KEVI Steel Band (Saturday) and Fellside Brass (Sunday) in Barnacre Garden.

Mike Elphick, a lead member of the organising committee for the event, said: “This is a much-anticipated event in the Northumberland calendar, with visitors coming from across the North East and as far afield as Scotland and the Midlands to view the stunning gardens in our village.

“The bi-annual festival was unable to go ahead in 2021 due to the pandemic, but we are excited to bring back the event with even more things to enjoy and explore.

“We are expecting between 400 and 500 people per day to visit our gardens and all proceeds from the event are split between Longhirst Village Hall and St John’s Church.”

Tickets are £7.50 per ad-ult, accompanied children are free and the whole event is dog friendly. Go to www.longhirstopengardens.org for more details.