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Fullers Mill Garden: Tranquil West Stow garden in volunteer call

Shaun Whitmore/BBC Fullers Mill Garden, West StowShaun Whitmore/BBC
Bernard Tickner, a former head brewer at Green King, Bury St Edmunds, took more than 50 years to create the plant-packed garden

A tranquil, plant-packed garden owned by a charity is hoping to recruit people "with a few hours to spare" to help keep it pristine.

Fullers Mill Garden, at West Stow, Suffolk, was donated to Perennial, a 180-year-old charity which helps people who work in horticulture, in 2004.

The seven-acre (2.8 hectare) garden was created on the banks of the River Lark by Bernard Tickner MBE, who died in 2017.

Shaun Whitmore/BBC Fullers Mill Garden, West StowShaun Whitmore/BBC
He designed it to have all year-round interest

Head gardener Annie Dellbridge and her team of five gardeners and 30 volunteers now maintain the garden.

But she said they do need more help and that new volunteers do not need to be expert gardeners to apply.

Shaun Whitmore/BBC Annie DellbridgeShaun Whitmore/BBC
Head gardener Annie Dellbridge said she would be happy for any additional help to manage the large garden

The owners of East Ruston Old Vicarage, near Stalham, in Norfolk, recently announced they will be bequeathing their garden to Perennial.

The charity has also been donated Sir Roy Strong's Herefordshire garden and owns gardens in Leeds and London and six bungalows for retired horticulturalists in Barton, Cambridgeshire.

Shaun Whitmore/BBC Fullers Mill Garden, West StowShaun Whitmore/BBC
It opens to visitors every Wednesday, Friday and weekend from 1 April to 29 October
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