Tarvin Plant Sale 2026.

Like the Christmas Market and the Summer Fete, Tarvin’s Plant Sale has become a regular village event and is all the more remarkable because it is sustained entirely by the stalwart villagers who provide the plants for us!  This sale is the principal fundraiser for Tarvin’s lovely woodland, and the village has certainly taken it to its heart, with the number of plants arriving on the Thursday “Delivery Day” being genuinely phenomenal!  We needed an extra four tables to accommodate them all, and sorting and pricing took four of our wonderful volunteers most of Friday.  The display indoors was amazing!

Saturday morning dawned dry, but with the threat of rain.  At 8 am, the first of the tables was carried out to the front of Tarvin Methodist Church, and before 9 am, they were all set up, ready for the crowds.  And the Tarvin crowds came!  At 10 am, there was barely room to move around, and people were very happily buying the bargain plants on offer!  When it later began to rain a little, the crowds began to thin out (and gave me a chance to grab some photographs), but the trade proved to be steady all morning, and the outcome was a grand total that was as good as we have ever achieved!

Figures quoted now are susceptible to change as late payments and bills come in, but the total sales at the end of the morning came to well over £2,000!  In addition to this, Heather Exell had been selling hanging baskets and provided us with almost another £450!  Once you include the £130 taken by the raffle and another £100 of donations to the Trust, the morning total came to more than £2,300 – a remarkable result!  When you consider that there were also plant sales on simultaneously in Kelsall and Duddon villages, it speaks volumes for Tarvin’s villagers and their loyalty to our woodland.

But another aspect of the sale is that it enabled the Chapel to provide teas and coffees for far more people than usual, plus supplying the ever-popular bacon baps, which were enjoyed by many.  That TWO village organisations are able to combine, so that both are able to raise much-needed funds from the SAME event, is truly special!  It says so much for Tarvin village that this can go on!

A great many “thank-you’s” are due.  Firstly, to all of the friends of the woodland, who grew on and supplied all of the plants, a great many attractive pots and, this year, a number of very popular garden ornaments.  Without your generosity, the sale could not happen.  You are lovely people.  Thank you.

Next, to all of our wonderful volunteers who helped to sort out the plants, price them, set up the sale and then helped to run the sale on the Saturday morning.  You really are stars!  Your help was absolutely invaluable, and we treasure your involvement.

Finally, to the super people of Tarvin and locality, who turned up on what might have been a truly indifferent morning and made it all worthwhile by purchasing so many of the plants.  That the plant sale is so successful year after year is a tribute to your loyalty, thoughtfulness and financial acumen (because there really were superb bargains, weren’t there?)

All together, the Plant Sale 2026 was a great success.  We haven’t yet set a date for the Plant Sale 2027, but it will no doubt be in mid-May.  If you have surplus plants at the end of this Summer, can we ask you to put them on one side for us?