On Sunday 5th July, Hassocks Village Garden Trail will provide a unique opportunity to explore the enchanting gardens of the historic parish of Keymer. See vibrant flowers, attractive plants and chat to local gardeners to find out what works in their garden. The trail features a mixture of modern and traditional gardens in different styles and provides an ideal opportunity to consider how to manage or develop your own garden ideas or planting.

Local resident, Matt Burnett, has been a landscape designer and gardener for about twenty-five years. He is now winding down elements of his work to have a better work-life balance, and says: “Nowadays, I focus more on plants and small landscaping.”

Matt has put many years of hard work, creativity and planting expertise into his sheltered northfacing garden, designed around an ancient and rather wonderful oak. He makes incredible use of space to create a series of linked garden areas with specific planting suited to each spot. The overall effect is both relaxing and inspiring because wherever you look there’s a new detail to enjoy, whether that’s the soft texture of unusual foliage, a blousy dahlia swaying in the breeze, or a brick path edged with cobbles.

Dahlias are a favourite of Matt’s because they’re well-suited to our milder winters, although they don’t like wet ground which can be a challenge. Matt elaborates: “I’m a bit obsessed with the seasonality of plants and my favourites vary with the seasons.” He adds: “Herbaceous plants are my thing, but I like to mix it up with grasses and hydrangeas to prolong the interest.” Matt is very knowledgeable about things like which plants may thrive better in raised beds, and he says: “With our changing climate, a lot of plants don’t overwinter, and gardeners need to consider many elements.” He believes such challenges makes it even more important for gardeners to chat to each other about what might work, particularly as plants these days can be rather costly.

Matt’s wife, Charlotte, looks after the vegetables and the garden includes a particularly impressive array of lettuces. Plants such as runner beans are mixed in with flowers, and Matt says: “We like to show companion planting and how that can work.”

It’s about ten years since Matt first became involved with the Village Garden Trail. He used to sell plants at Hassocks Village Market, and someone approached his stall to tell him about the hospice trail. Matt remembers: “We had enjoyed visiting open gardens ourselves and I thought supporting this scheme would be a nice thing to do.” On the day, Matt and his wife, Charlotte, will provide teas, refreshments and there will be plants for sale too. “Cancer touches us all in some ways, and we generally raise a half-decent sum of money so it’s satisfying to play our part in this,” says Matt.

“What I like about gardening is that you never know it all and I keep learning new things.” Matt, who loves to be able to chat with visitors, says: “It can be a busy day, but I enjoy talking to people about my love of gardening and it’s rewarding to give something back to the local community.”

Hassocks Village Garden Trail starts at 13 Church Mead, but you can join wherever you wish. For further details, see: https://stpjhospice.org/event/hassocks-village-trail/