From 18 May – 18 June 2023, Salford residents can get 30% off RHS Membership, giving them unlimited entry to all five RHS Gardens, free entry to over 200 Partner Gardens, reduced rate tickets to RHS Flower Shows, gardening workshops and family friendly events and inspirational gardening advice from RHS experts and The Garden magazine.
Head of RHS Garden Bridgewater Richard Green said “More than 42,000 people have visited Bridgewater as part of our Salford Free Tuesday scheme and we hope that the membership offer will inspire our local community to spend even more time at the garden.”
Since opening on 18 May 2021, RHS Bridgewater has welcomed over 984,000 visitors, well ahead of the numbers originally forecast. Every visit to the garden helps to support Bridgewater’s vital community programmes that widen access to the positive benefits of gardening and getting outdoors. This includes wellbeing activities, the Community Grow garden which gives access to space to grow for local organisations and outreach work across the region.
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett added: “RHS Bridgewater has provided Salford and Greater Manchester with an amazing visitor attraction as well as local asset for our communities. Almost one million visitors in two years proves how popular the garden is and Salford residents benefit from the free Tuesday offer.
“There is so much more for the development of the site and in the last two years we have worked hard to realise a £3.8million walking and cycling project which offers 6.2km of connections and sustainable travel opportunities for people visiting the garden. All sections are now open with just some minor works in progress to make the route fully complete.”
18 May marks a double celebration at RHS Bridgewater, as the garden hosts the Greater Manchester schools involved in the pilot of the new National Education Nature Park, a project run by a partnership led by the Natural History Museum with the Royal Horticultural Society, other partners, and working with Esri UK and the Department for Education. The project will launch in autumn, and the contributions of local schools are helping to shape it.
The project is a key part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s commitment to encouraging children to get closer to nature and grow their skills and confidence. These objectives are also supported by RHS Bridgewater’s schools programme, supported by The Peel Group, which aims to nurture children’s curiosity and spark enthusiasm for gardening in the next generation. 2022 was another bumper year for the programme which has delivered interactive learning sessions for over 10,500 children from schools across all ten Greater Manchester boroughs since launching.
Steven Underwood, Chief Executive of The Peel Group, commented: “As a founding partner of RHS Garden Bridgewater it is fantastic to see how much joy this world class horticultural attraction in Salford continues to bring to our local community and beyond.
“We are committed to continue working in partnership with the RHS Garden Bridgewater to encourage inclusive learning and accessible education through the Peel Learning Garden which has already seen over 10,500 children engage with nature, wildlife and planting.
“We look forward to welcoming many more schools and visitors into the space, which will hopefully inspire our next generation of gardeners and create a lifelong appreciation of nature.”
RHS Garden Bridgewater is made possible by Salford City Council and The Peel Group. Salford City Council invested £19 million into the project which will bring substantial economic and tourism benefits to the city, its communities and the north west region. The Peel Group are custodians of the former Worsley New Hall estate where the garden has been created.
