TUDOR Croft Gardens on Stokesley Road, Guisborough, will soon be open again to the public to enjoy its collection of rare and beautiful snowdrops.

At present, the season is running a little early due to spells of warm weather, and some snowdrops are already starting to show through the ground, but they last in flower for many weeks.

The garden's collection of snowdrops now number about 300 different varieties. It will be open on two consecutive weekends, Saturday and Sunday, February 11 and 12, and 18 and 19, from 11am to 3pm. There will be free parking available in the grounds of the Galley Hill school, off Stokesley Road, weather permitting, and there will be home-made hot soup, refreshments and, of course, snowdrops, with spring bulbs and plants to buy. All proceeds will go to local charities.

Co-owner Gel Heagney with a range of plants which will be on sale at the opening of the Gardens

Owner Mike Heagney has recently celebrated the refusal of Redcar and Cleveland Council Regulatory Committee to permit building on adjacent fields to the gardens, amid fears that the proposed development would seriously harm the surrounding environment.