Over 40 years ago, Kenneth and June Ashburner began planting trees in a field. As Kenneth’s plant hunting expeditions gathered pace, so did the collections of trees and plants that started to accumulate in the ‘field’. Years of sympathetic and artistic development and landscaping have created the inspiring garden we enjoy today. In 1995, the garden was award National Collection Status by Plant Heritage and in 2019, it became an RHS Partner Garden.

The Arboretum provides a wonderful resource to help to train a young person to become an expert gardener and formal training in practical skills is also needed.

Donate a day of training for our Assistant Gardener £200

Help to train our assistant gardener to develop the expertise needed to care for our specialised Arboretum .

Why are our trees so important?

Our National Collections of Birch and Alder trees are:

  • Important to scientists – as a living library of genetic material collected from all over the world.
  • Important to the public – educating children and adults about these attractive and pioneering trees.
  • Important for the future – as a source of trees for possible new breeding programmes as the climate changes.

Your Donation

What Do I Achieve?

  • An opportunity to help a young person to develop skills to care for specialised plants

For a one off donation of £200, please click on the page below

You can pay by PayPal via your PayPal account or credit or debit card.

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