Open gardens

Saltaire Festival 2016 - It is perhaps not as brave as opening your house to visitors (which happens during Saltaire's Arts Trail every spring) but it still takes courage and a lot of hard work to open your garden to all comers. People who have never actually visited Saltaire might be surprised to realise how tiny our gardens are. Many of the small terraced houses in the main part of the village have small yards only about 4 or 5 metres square, often with an outhouse that was once the 'privvy'.

It is always amazing to see what people have managed to pack into them. The longer I spent in this yard the more I noticed: old buckets used as planters and even a WWII air raid warden's tin, that may once have held a gas mask or first aid kit, artfully planted with campanulas.

Spot the little mouse peeping out from behind a pot in the photo below... and the table looks as though it may have been an old treadle sewing machine. So much to look at ... but you have to tear yourself away to let the next lot of visitors in. The yards will only comfortably accommodate two or three people at a time!