Wildlife-friendly Open Gardens

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Our Wildlife-Friendly Open Gardens 2025

Discover Gardens Bursting with Wildlife

Be inspired by this unique opportunity to visit some of Yorkshire’s most wildlife-friendly gardens as many of our Wildlife Gardening Award winners open their outdoor spaces to the public for a limited time only. 

It’s time to celebrate our wildlife-friendly gardens!

Since we launched our Wildlife Gardening Award two years ago, we have rewarded over 500 green-fingered Yorkshire folk for their incredible work to create wildlife havens in their back yards, gardens and community spaces.

We are immensely proud of how wildlife-friendly Yorkshire’s gardens are. To celebrate the success of the Wildlife Gardening Award, we have invited some of our winners to open their gardens and help spread awareness of the important role our own spaces can play in bringing about nature’s recovery.

About the gardens

Find out more about the wildlife-friendly gardens being opened...

North Yorkshire

Pond at the Hayloft

Sunday 4th May

  • The Hayloft, 12 Holburns Croft, York, YO10 5DP - 12pm-4pm 

Dot and Professor Sir John Lawton welcome you to explore their formal(ish) front garden, more informal back garden, orchard and a new ‘wilding’ area. There are a good variety of interesting plants in beds ranging from hot and dry to cool and damp, plus a small open meadow, a larger orchard meadow, and a two ponds. The whole garden is managed to be wildlife-friendly.

On street parking is available nearby. Booking essential.

Book your place

Harlow Avenue Open Gardens
  • 25 Harlow Avenue, Harrogate, HG2 0AS - 1pm-4pm

A charming small garden in Harrogate where nature is encouraged to thrive, grass is allowed to grow long, and a variety of shrubs and wildlife-friendly planting provide food for the many species which call this garden home.

There is on-street parking available nearby and the garden is accessible for wheelchairs. Well behaved dogs are welcome.

Fossgyl

Monday 5th May

  • Fossgyl, Huntington Road, York - 12pm-4pm

Professor Alastair Fitter's long 1 acre garden stretches from Huntington Road to the River Foss. There are perennial borders, an alpine bed and alpine house, a peat-free ‘peat’ bed, a woodland garden, a traditional orchard with apple trees that are nearly 100 years old mixed with more recently planted specimen trees and shrubs, a meadow with fritillaries in spring and orchids in summer, wet woodland by the river with oxlips in spring, and a large wildlife pond fringed with native wetland plants. There are over 1200 species of plant in the garden, including over 250 natives.

On street parking nearby on the Burn Estate. Well behaved dogs are welcome, and the garden is accessible for wheelchairs. Booking essential.

Book your place

Blooming Border
  • 519 Huntington Road, York, YO32 9PY - 12pm-4pm

519 Huntington Road belongs to Roma and Dr Geoff Oxford. A small, triangular corner plot with 'tooth' flower beds, shrubs/perennials, pond and a 30 sq. m meadow in the larger front garden, and wide borders, pond and gravel area at the back. This lovely garden is close to Fossgyl so why not make an afternoon of it by visiting both gardens.

On street parking nearby on Burn Estate.  

Harlow Avenue Open Gardens
  • 25 Harlow Avenue, Harrogate, HG2 0AS - 1pm-4pm

A charming small garden in Harrogate where nature is encouraged to thrive, grass is allowed to grow long, and a variety of shrubs and wildlife-friendly planting provide food for the many species which call this garden home.

There is on-street parking available nearby and the garden is accessible for wheelchairs. Well behaved dogs are welcome.

Shandy Hall Open Gardens

Thursday 8th May

  • Shandy Hall, Coxwold, York, YO61 4AD - 11am-4:30pm

Two-acre garden with wildlife at its heart, in the North York Moors National Park.  Several garden areas, including a woodland garden in an old quarry, with a wide variety of plants, shrubs and trees. We aim for the maximum diversity of living creatures in the garden - from the microorganisms in the soil to the human visitors! We are happy to chat about wildlife gardening.

Plants for sale: www.laurencesternetrust.org.uk/gardens

There is a small car park and well-behaved dogs are welcome.

GROW Scarborough Open Gardens
  • The Street Community Garden, The Street, 12 Lower Clark St, Scarborough, YO12 7PW - 9am-3pm

This fabulous community growing space has a variety of wildlife-friendly features with raised beds for growing food, pollinator-friendly planting, a container pond, wild areas of brambles, bird feeders, a dead hedge, and native trees and shrubs.

Public car park & on-street parking. The garden is accessible for wheelchairs and well-behaved dogs are welcome.

Jubilee allotments Open Gardens

Friday 9th May

  • Jubilee Allotments, Bilton Hall Drive, Harrogate, HG1 4DW - 10am-2pm 

​​​​​A delightful allotment which perfectly balances growing food for people with providing diverse sources of food, water and shelter for wildlife. With an array of pollinator friendly planting, two ponds, fruit bushes, log piles, insect homes, and bird, bat and hedgehog boxes, this allotment garden is well worth a visit. 

Limited parking on site, please do not park on Bilton Hall Drive. The garden is accessible for wheelchairs and well-behaved dogs are welcome.

Hazelgrove care home Open Gardens

Sunday 11th May

  • Hazelgrove Court Care Home, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, TS12 1LN - 10am-12pm & 2pm-4pm 

Please come along and visit our quirky garden at Hazelgrove Court Care Home, in Saltburn. Our residents were extremely proud to win a wildlife garden award and work hard providing safe havens for our wildlife, including a hedgehog house, butterfly house, squirrel cafe and much more.

Car park on site. The garden is accessible for wheelchairs. Well behaved dogs are welcome.

East Yorkshire

View of a blooming garden showing a flourishing garden for wildlife

Sunday 4th May

  • Front Garden, 142 Cardigan Rd, Bridlington, YO15 3LR - 11am-4pm

​​​​​​This coastal front garden has only been established during the last year and a half. Repurposed whisky barrels have been used to add height, and improved areas for growing, as the front garden is all gravel on hardcore. The ground level areas have been intensely planted, in pockets of peat free compost, with a mix of wild and cultivated flowers, bushes and small trees with the aim of providing a safe and enticing habitat for wildlife. The front (and back) garden was on the ‘Yorkshire in Bloom’ judges route as part of our Gold-winning ‘Bridlington in Bloom’ coastal town entry in July 2024.

There is on-street parking available nearby and the garden is accessible for wheelchairs. Well behaved dogs are welcome.

Saturday 10th May

  • 47 Marlborough Avenue, Hull, HU5 3JR - 1pm-5pm

On-street parking available. Dog-friendly, wheelchair (partially accessible)

wildlife garden

Sunday 11th May           

  • North Ferriby, HU14 3LB (for full address please phone/text 07519 130333) - 10am-4pm

‘We achieved our Wildlife Garden award in 2023 having ticked all the boxes in our 100 metre long ‘eco garden’. It certainly is more a ‘working garden’ rather than a Chelsea ‘show garden’ but it has everything our local wildlife needs. The four distinct areas of our back garden are; Entertaining, Playing, Formal and Fruit but they are left largely untouched, so we don’t disturb our residents and visitors."

We look forward to welcoming you. Unfortunately, we do not have parking on site.

South Yorkshire

Home Farm Open Gardens

Thursday 8th May

  • Home Farm, High Street, Austerfield, Doncaster, DN10 6QU - 10am-3pm

Kerry and Richard would like to welcome you to Home Farm & Lodge in Austerfield. Enjoy a wander around our wildlife friendly gardens which include flower filled borders, an orchard, water features and a wildlife field with large pond and oak trees. Please be aware we do have livestock on site including chickens, ducks, goats and bees.

Limited parking.

The Oval Open Gardens

Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th May

  • 39 The Oval, Tickhill, Doncaster, DN11 9HF - 11am-3pm

"My front lawn was a real mess, so I decided to make it into a wildlife area with flowering plants throughout the whole year. It also provides habitat for creepy crawlies and in the first year a hedgehog made its home under our front window."

Limited parking. The garden is accessible for wheelchairs and well-behaved dogs are welcome.

West Yorkshire

community wildlife garden in bloom

Saturday 3rd - Sunday 11th May

  • Kippax Wildlife Corridor, Bickerdike Terrace and Bickerdike Allotments, Kippax, LS25 7JY - Open daily, 1pm-5pm

Kippax Wildlife Corridor is a fabulous space for wildlife which incorporates an allotment, car park garden, and a shared green space which runs behind the houses, connecting gardens with the allotment and footpath beyond. The whole area is lovingly cared for by local residents who have worked hard to increase the biodiversity of their site. The garden is accessible by wheelchair and well-behaved dogs are welcome.

On street parking is available outside the allotment car park on Hollins Park.

wooden sign saying this way and pointing to the right set amongst a green leafy bush

Sunday 4th & Sunday 11th May

  • Oak Grove, Garforth, LS25 1PP - 11am-2pm

Incredible Edible Garforth have developed the Garforth Community Wildlife Area over the past three years as a space that can be used by the community to get closer to nature. The area is made up of a range of habitats including grassland, woodland, a pond and wetland. We have a den building area, willow dome and are currently building a bird hide. We have bat boxes, bird boxes, hedgehog houses and a bug hotel! There are apple trees, fruit bushes and clearing the brambles has revealed all sorts of previously hidden plant treasures. All this in the middle of a housing estate!

Limited parking. Well-behaved dogs are welcome.

raised beds in a wildlife garden within a uni ground

Tuesday 6th May & Thursday 8th May

  • North Hill Well Wood, North Grange Mount, Headingley, Leeds, LS6 2ER - 9am-5pm

The North Hill Well Wood is located behind one of the University of Leeds residential sites. The project is a partnership between Groundwork Yorkshire, Unite Students, and the University of Leeds. The site comprises of a woodland habitat with log piles for invertebrates and a broad range of tree species, a native hedgerow, many ferns and raised beds of pollinator-friendly woodland wildflowers. Bird, bug and hedgehog nesting boxes provide shelter for a variety of species and water features add interest and provide much needed water for wildlife.  

On street parking is available on North Grange Mount.

pollinator patch full of colourful flowers in long grass

Eco Friendly Garforth pollinator patch - Moira Flynn

Wednesday 7th & Saturday 10th May

  • Eco-Friendly Garforth, The Lord Gascoigne, 6 Aberford Rd, Garforth, LS25 1PX - 10am-4pm

Eco Friendly Garforth have created an amazing community garden at the bottom of The Lord Gascoigne pub car park. They brought their community together to create a fabulous blend of plants grown for food and native plant species for wildlife with raised beds, a herb spiral, a pond, bug homes and a hibernaculum. With fruit trees, native wildflowers, and a lovely communal space for families to enjoy connecting with nature, this garden is one not to be missed!

There is a large car park on site, and well-behaved dogs are welcome. Why not make a day of it by enjoying lunch at the pub and combining your visit with another garden nearby such as Kippax Wildlife Corridor?

wildlife garden with sunflowers in the shot

Wednesday 7th May

  • Abbey House Museum Walled Garden, Abbey Walk, Kirkstall, Leeds, LS5 3EH - 12pm-4pm

The Kirkstall Abbey community garden group is run by Hyde Park Source environmental charity and based in the walled garden area of the beautiful grounds of Abbey House Museum opposite the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds. Volunteers tend several large perennial and annual ornamental flowerbeds within the hidden sunny walled garden area with a big focus on creating both drought resistant and wildlife / pollinator friendly habitats.

In just 5 years they have redesigned the beds to contain a diverse mix of small fruit tree species such as quince, apricot, plum and pear combined with freeform planting of perennial flowers such as cardoons, scabious, verbascum - mixed with self-seeding annuals like sunflowers, ammi, phacelia and cosmos.

Free car park on Abbey Walk. Well behaved dogs are welcome.

wildlife garden

Sunday 11th May

  • 45 Victoria Crescent, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4PT - 1pm-4pm

A suburban garden developed over 30 years to be wildlife friendly. Mixed species native hedge, pond, border with wildflowers, nettles and a fruit tree, lawn being turned into a meadow, herb garden, veg beds, soft fruit, herbs, compost heap, wormery, standing dead wood and a greenhouse. 

Parking is available on the street and well-behaved dogs are welcome.

Pond at the Hayloft
The Hayloft

Sunday 4th May

Hosted by our President, Professor Sir John Lawton

Get your tickets

Fossgyl
Fossgyl

Monday 5th May

Hosted by our Vice-President, Professor Alastair Fitter

Get your tickets


wildlife gardening award plaque

Apply for our Wildlife Gardening Award

 

Feeling inspired to go wild for wildlife in your garden this year?

Whether you have a large garden or a small balcony, your outside space can provide a vital stepping-stone across the landscape for wildlife, and form part of a network of natural havens linking urban green spaces with the countryside.

With an estimated 24 million gardens in the UK, the way we care for our outdoor space can make a BIG difference to the natural world.

Find out more...