St Margaret's Hospice is marking 45 years of free hospice care in style — by throwing open the gates to more than 45 gardens across Somerset and Dorset in its biggest-ever Glorious Gardens campaign.

The 2025 launch gets underway on Friday 25 April with a family-friendly Earth Day celebration at the hospice's Yeovil garden, featuring eco workshops, a tech donation station, and the chance to make your own metal allium ornament – a hands-on highlight priced at £10 a head.

Timed to follow Earth Day (22 April), the event will run from 11am to 2pm and includes garden tours with the Head Gardener, a scavenger hunt for younger visitors, and homemade cakes with the tea and coffee. Visitors will also be able to pick up the brand-new 2025 Glorious Gardens brochure — your official guide to what's blooming where this season.

The charity, which provides end-of-life care and support for patients and families across the region, hopes to raise £27,000 from this year's campaign – enough to fund 360 Community Nurse visits to people receiving hospice care in their own homes.

Among the returning gardens are firm favourites like Winsford Village Gardens, Post Box Garden, and Little Orchard. New for 2025 are Heron House Residential Home, where wildlife flocks to the pond, and The Ark at Egwood CIC in Merriott – a sustainability-focused community garden that mixes nature, wellbeing, and some very green-fingered know-how.

Steph Cox, Head of Engagement at St Margaret's, said: "As we celebrate 45 years of St Margaret's Hospice Care, we're incredibly proud to launch what promises to be a beautiful open gardens campaign. Every garden, every cake, and every donation plays a part in helping us provide compassionate care to those who need it most."

The campaign is once again sponsored by Greenslade Taylor Hunt, whose backing helps ensure donations go directly towards patient care.

Brochures are available now at local garden centres and St Margaret's shops. Full details, including garden opening dates and raffle information, can be found at st-margarets-hospice.org.uk/glorious-gardens.

Because nothing says spring quite like a cuppa, a slice of cake, and a wander round someone else's perfectly mowed lawn — all for a good cause.