Shepton Mallet gardens open for snowdrops
By Laura Linham 9th Jun 2026
Twenty private gardens in Shepton Mallet will open their gates this weekend to raise money for the town's famous snowdrops.
Shepton Open Gardens takes place on Sunday, 14 June, from 12 noon to 5pm, giving visitors a look behind walls, fences and garden gates across the town.
The gardens include a mix of new and established spaces, large and small.
Visitors can expect ponds, water features, sculpture, rooftop views, topiary and insect-friendly planting.
All money raised from garden entry, teas and homemade cakes will go towards buying more snowdrop bulbs.
The bulbs will be planted in Collett Park and elsewhere in Shepton Mallet in the early autumn.
Over the years, Shepton Mallet Horticultural Society and, more recently, the Shepton Snowdrop Project have planted more than half a million snowdrop bulbs in the town.
The annual focus on snowdrops comes from Shepton Mallet's growing reputation as the home of James Allen, the Victorian plantsman known as the Snowdrop King.
Allen, an amateur horticulturist from Shepton Mallet, bred more than 100 new snowdrop cultivars in the garden of his home in the town.
His legacy is celebrated each February through the Shepton Snowdrop Festival.
The festival brings visitors to Shepton Mallet for specialist nurseries, workshops and talks from gardening experts.
This weekend's open gardens event will help fund the next round of planting, keeping that snowdrop story growing across the town.
Tickets for Shepton Open Gardens are available through TicketSource.
Brief details of the twenty open gardens can be found on the Shepton Snowdrops website.
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