Charity | Posted on June 9th, 2026 | return to news

Specialist nursery in Hampreston offers free group sessions

Over the years, The Knoll Gardens Foundation has supported local charities and schools on bespoke gardening projects.

The Knoll Gardens Foundation in Stapehill Road is offering free entry sessions to groups with an interest in horticulture, nature and the environment, and to groups for whom the gardens offer a wellbeing benefit. The visits can take place on Mondays or Tuesdays when the gardens are closed to the public.

Over the last few years, the Foundation has supported local charities and schools on bespoke gardening projects, offering special access days and opening its gates to local groups.

Working on a project with Wimborne Community Garden, Knoll Gardens’ Neil Lucas shared his expertise, advising on naturalistic plantings. The Foundation donated a selection of grasses and perennials from the nursery at Knoll to help realise a newly planned sensory garden.

Jane Benson, Wimborne Community Garden manager, said: “Within the Wimborne Community Garden, we have a wonderful sensory garden which blossomed into life due to the exciting collaboration between two of our very talented designer volunteers and Neil Lucas, who so generously came and shared his ideas and enthusiasm. Not only that, but Knoll Gardens also donated numerous, glorious, billowing grasses to the design, and as the year has progressed, the sensory garden has flourished and brought joy to countless visitors and garden users.”

The collaboration inspired Wimborne Community Garden to enter a Gardeners’ World competition at Beaulieu in May.

In another community collaboration in 2025, children from Beaucroft Foundation School in Colehill visited Knoll Gardens on a special access day. Having the gardens completely to themselves, they were able to safely explore and enjoy a rare sense of freedom, which was crucial for both students and staff. The naturalistic plantings at Knoll offered the perfect setting to draw the students in, with soft, sweeping paths for them to follow around generous beds of taller grasses and flowering perennials, all positively humming with wildlife.

The Foundation is also continuing to offer the opportunity for invited local groups and clubs to enjoy the gardens free of charge on Fridays in the summer. To date, clubs with varied interests from creative writing and art to photography and gardening have been inspired by the gardens’ wildlife-friendly naturalistic planting and the textures, form and colour they offer.

Further information about these visits, including how to register interest, together with details of the Foundation and its work, can be found at https://www.knollgardens.co.uk/foundation.