Faversham Open Gardens 2026
Posted: 3rd July, 2026 Category: Gardens
1200 people visit Faversham's gardens in best year ever
Words Posy Gentles Photographs Alexandra Campbell and FOG Committee Members
2026 Faversham Open Gardens and Garden Market Day, for the National Garden Scheme, sponsored by Shepherd Neame
Last Sunday, a gloriously sunny day, Faversham Market was brilliantly awash with plants and flowers, and more than 1200 people, brochure in hand, strolled around the town to visit 25 gardens, many not usually open to the public. Faversham’s cafes, pubs and restaurants reported excellent business as visitors sought refreshment to keep them going.
It was the 2026 Faversham Open Gardens and Garden Market day, for the National Garden Scheme (NGS), sponsored by Shepherd Neame. The committee for Faversham Open Gardens (FOG) says it is their best year ever with 1220 brochures sold, and just over £10,000 raised for the NGS and local charities, through ticket sales and the garden market.
The Garden Market with some 20 stands
Madrona nursery under the Guildhall
Jane Beedle of the FOG Committee manning the ticket stall
Shoes abandoned in the sunshine and a beautiful fern from the Garden Market
Banks of flowers among the pillars of the Guildhall
Slightly unimpressed by the embellishment to her pushchair
The most visited garden was Arden’s House with 913 visitors and, although not all the figures are in, other gardens are reporting between 300 and 800 visitors.
FOG says that garden owners commented on how pleasant, polite and considerate all the garden visitors were, and how there wasn’t so much as a dropped tissue left when the garden gates closed at 5pm – and absolutely no damage.
Garden 12: Garden designer Edmund Jackson created this garden three years ago from an overgrown wilderness
Garden 12: an inspiring design for a narrow town garden
Garden 7: Vegetable beds now planted with wild flower selections and a pond
Garden 6: Town garden with a beach theme
Garden 13: The front garden of Guncotton Cottage is laid out to a wildlife-friendly cottage garden
If you’re interested in opening your garden next year, FOG would love to hear from you. They say that any garden within about a 20 minute walk of the Market Place is welcome. You also need access to the garden from the street and not through your house. FOG doesn’t vet gardens as it is the nature of the event to embrace variety. As one visitor commented: ‘These gardens are hidden gems – every one is a surprise.’
Text: Posy Gentles. Photographs: Alexandra Campbell and FOG Committee Members
