A HUSBAND and wife team are opening up their garden for the seventh year to raise money for charity.

Dawn and Ken Taylor will be opening up the garden, which surrounds their cottage, Badger Corner, in Brockclough Road, Whitewell Bottom, to raise money for the Heart of Lancashire Save a Life Appeal on behalf of Rossendale Community First Responders.

The three-quarter acre garden on several levels, features shrubs, perennial plants, vegetables, ponds and mature trees.

Mrs Taylor, who works as an office administrator, said: "We wanted to open the garden up to raise money for charity and open it up to the public."

The 56-year-old decided not to open her garden on behalf of the National Garden Scheme, an annual initiative to raise money for national charities.

She said: "We decided not to apply for the scheme because we wanted all the money raised to go to a local charity rather than various national ones, which is what happens with the NGS.

"My mother and father were both into gardening and so was my grandfather so it's in my blood."

Husband Ken, 60, who is an architectural technician, did the hard landscaping with the help of nephew Brent Jordan, who has just completed a course in horticulture.

The couple use 10 compost bins for recycling organic materials and paper as well as a wormery where vegetable matter from the kitchen is placed to be turned into compost for plants in the greenhouse.

They also purchased a piece of land adjacent to the garden and are developing a woodland walk on a steep slope across the stream.

The mother-of-two said: "We created the garden and built the house and this has taken 15 years - it's a continuous process.

"I find it satisfying to grow a plant from another plant and really enjoy gardening."

The couple hope to improve on the £1,000 raised last year as Mrs Taylor is a volunteer for the Responders. The Rossendale charity, with 28 volunteers deals with life-threatening emer-gencies on behalf of the North West Ambulance services and is completely funded by voluntary donations.

The ambulance service can call on volunteers to deal with emergencies such as heart attacks and diabetes attacks any time of the day.

The garden will be open all day on August 19 with a £2 donation, which includes tea, coffee and biscuits.

Cream teas, cakes and home-grown plants will also be on sale.

l Call 07866 081 839 for details.