It's all rosy at the open gardens (From Free Press Series)

It's all rosy at the open gardens

DESPITE a very wet Saturday this year's Usk Open Gardens weekend made £10,000 profit for local charities.

The organisers were overwhelmed by the support shown by visitors who flocked to the town on Sunday to make up for the poor attendance on Saturday.

Press officer Margaret Evans said: "Despite the heavy rain nearly all day, we still had more than 300 people on Saturday, including a coachload from Swansea and a minibus from Abercynon.

"This is the wettest event we've ever had, but thanks to wonderful support from the public, we caught up a lot on Sunday and made £10,000, so we're delighted. The town was buzzing but there was no way you could estimate how well we would do.

"We are absolutely delighted to have recovered from the Saturday, but it was perfect for walking around gardens on the Sunday, although the grass has suffered."

She said the chairman Margaret Capel, who spends six months of the year growing plants for her stall, had made £3,200 which was amazing considering the attendance was down on previous years.

This year was the 10th anniversary year and included three new gardens to boost the number included to 25. One couple arrived from Cumbria on Friday and spent Saturday touring all the gardens in the rain because they had to spend the whole of Sunday travelling home.