THE following gardens are throwing open their gates this weekend to raise money for charity as part of the National Gardens Scheme:

Friday, June 24

  • Snowshill Manor & Garden, Snowshill, Broadway

Delightful hillside garden surrounding beautiful Cotswold manor, designed in Arts & Crafts style.

Garden consists of a series of contrasting outdoor rooms. Simple, colourful plantings tumble and scramble down the terraces and around byres and ponds. Enjoy produce from kitchen garden in the Tea Room. Lunches, snacks and cream teas.

Open 11am-5pm. Admission £6.50, child £3.50

Sunday, June 26

  • Oakwood Farm, Upper Minety

Many gardens sell plants, but Kate Gallop is going one step further by holding a Plant Fair with about 20 stalls.

Nurseries exhibiting will include Foxley Road Nurseries and Chase Plants Nursery Open 11am-5pm.

Homemade teas will be sold in aid of Macmillan.

Admission £4, children free.

  • Beverston Castle, nr Tetbury

Overlooked by romantic C12-C17 castle ruin (not open), copiously-planted paved terrace leads from C18 house (not open) across moat to sloping lawn with spring bulbs in abundance, and full herbaceous and shrub borders.

Large walled kitchen garden and greenhouses.

Open 2-5.30pm. Admission £4, children free. Home-made teas.

  • Icomb Gardens, Icomb, near Stow on the Wold

Nine different gardens will be open. Icomb is a pretty village near Stow-on-the-Wold, with glorious views and a 13th-century church which is well worth a visit if you have time.

On display will be compact courtyard gardens, plant-packed cottage gardens and vegetable plots offering lovely glimpses of surrounding countryside.

Open 1.30-5pm. Combined admission £5, children free.

Home-made teas in village hall.

  • Mill Dene Garden, School Lane, Blockley, Moreton-in-Marsh

50 shades of green (!) at least in this 2½ acre garden hidden in the Cotswolds.

Centrepiece is water mill dating from C10 (probably), with mill pond and stream.

The owners have had fun creating a varied garden, from informal woodland full of bulbs, to rose walk, cricket lawn, then herb garden looking out over hills with church as backdrop.

Garden trail for children.

Open 2-5pm. Admission £9, children £3

  • Temple Guiting Manor, Temple Guiting

The five-acre garden was designed for the Collinses by Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winner Jinny Blom, who has created a smart contemporary look, with a fine kitchen garden and gravel pathways which offset the Grade I listed manor house.

Open 12-5pm. Admission £5, children free.

  • Moor Wood, Woodmancote

View the National Collection of Rambling Roses at Moor Wood.Set amid two acres of shrub, orchard and wildflower gardens. Roses scramble up walls, along pergolas, and through trees in this isolated valley garden.

Open 2-6pm. Admission £4, children free. Home made teas.

  • Misarden Park, Miserden, Stroud

This lovely, unspoilt garden, positioned high on the Wolds and commanding spectacular views was created in C17 and still retains a wonderful sense of timeless peace and tranquillity.

Perhaps finest features in garden are double 92metre mixed border incl roses and clematis, in different colour sections.Much of original garden is found within ancient Cotswold stone walls.

Open 2-6pm. Admission £6, children free

Monday 27 June

25 Bowling Green Road, Cirencester

Susan Beck will be opening her garden at 25 Bowling Green Road, Cirencester and displaying her award winning collection of hemerocallis – at their very best at this time of year.

The path has winding walkways through billowing borders, with grasses, clematis, roses and hostas.

Open 11am-4pm.Admission £3, children free.