There is a lot of work to be done in the gardens, and as a voluntary organisation we rely on help in the form of time given, donations, or memories of Old Durham in the past.
If you would like to further discuss any of these opportunities, please contact us.
Volunteering
We have groups of volunteers who enjoy coming to the gardens weekly, fortnightly or monthly for a couple of hours to help with a wide range of tasks, including:
- Weeding and planting in the herbaceous borders and walled garden
- Pruning our collection of pyramid yews
- Mowing and edging the lawns
- Maintaining our benches
- Maintaining the fruit trees in the orchard
- Helping at our open day events
- … plus a range of other seasonal tasks
Between April and September we carry out garden works every Thursday from 9.30 am-12.30 pm and from 2.00-4.00 pm.
If you’re interested in joining us to help maintain and develop these 17th century gardens, please contact us online or call in to see us when we’re working in the gardens.
Group Volunteering
We welcome corporate or community group volunteers. We have enjoyed the help of volunteers from:
- Northumbria Water
- Barclay’s Bank
- King’s Church
- Durham University
- Durham University Business School
Contributing Your Memories
If you do have any interesting stories or photographs please get in touch using the contact us page so that they can be saved for posterity.
Donations
We depend on raising our own funds to support all of our work. The trustees are all unpaid volunteers from the local community. Any money raised goes directly to further the projects aims.
You can donate by sending a cheque (payable to Friends of Old Durham Gardens) to the address below.
Friends of Old Durham Gardens, 8, Hill Meadows, High Shincliffe, Durham, DH1 2PE.