Opening Times
Winthrop Gardens, Tea Rooms, Plants Sales and our 'Curiosity Corner' are open as follows:
Our OPENING PATTERN is as follows:-
WINTER - 1st November - 31st March
Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays
between 10.30am – 3.00pm
SUMMER - 1st April - 31st October
Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays
between 10.30am and 4.00pm
Winthrop has an annual 'Festive closure' from mid December to 1st February
Winthrop has occasional Saturday opening for Special events and activities.
Our aim is to extend the opening days as / when there are sufficient volunteers to do so.
We're sorry we are unable to open on Saturdays due to the shortage of people willing to volunteer on Saturdays.
INTRODUCING WINTHROP GARDENS
Winthrop Gardens initially opened in 2005 as a therapeutic garden setting offering a sensory and healing space for the use and benefit of all. Wickersley Parish Council took over the management and running of Winthrop Gardens in February 2016 and the governance of Winthrop Gardens is undertaken through a sub Committee of the Parish Council.
Winthrop Gardens is led and run by a team of 120+ volunteers who extend a Warm Winthrop Welcome as the tend our lovely, sensory Gardens, propagate and sell plants and provide refreshments in our recently opened brand new Cafe.
In addition our volunteers support a twice-monthly Memory Café for people living with dementia and their carers, very popular Weekly Walks on Tuesdays and Wednesday, monthly walks for people with visual and hearing issues, monthly groups including our (first) Tuesday 'Book Chart, our (first) Thursday Men's Group, our (third) Thursday 'Games Morning' and we have a growing team of Home Bakers who provide delicious cake for our Cafe.
In essence - Winthrop is a community garden and cafe, run by the community, for the community.
THE GARDENS
A one-acre community garden, developed over the last fifteen years on the site of an old water treatment works, now owned by Wickersley Parish Council and maintained by volunteers. The garden was designed for peace and tranquillity with the emphasis on colour and scent. Features include an herbaceous border with many varieties of hardy perennials at their peak in mid-summer, a late summer flower border, a rose and wisteria pergola, a bee and butterfly garden and beds of highly scented English roses kindly donated by David Austin. Our Japanese garden has a large rare specimen of Robinia ‘Lace Lady’ and three white stemmed birches under planted with acers. Acer ‘Trompenburg’ has recently been donated by the Wickersley W.I. to mark suffrage for women. The Garden also contains a wide selection of ornamental trees including Betula pendula ‘Youngii’, Ginkgo biloba, Gleditsia ‘Sunburst’ and Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’. There are a selection of flowering crab apples, acers and conifers. A New Zealand garden features many less hardy plants from that region adjacent to a willow spiral. Seasonal bedding plants are used for bold impact.
Winthrop Cafe
The Volunteer run Cafe offers a Warm Winthrop Welcome to all visitors.
Our straightforward menu includes:-
Home made Soups served with a warm crusty roll and butter
Jacket Potatoes with a range of fillings
Freshly made scones and cakes
Toasted teacakes and crumpets
A range of hot and cold drinks
We are very proud that our Cafe holds a 5 star Food Hygiene rating.
Catering for small groups and parties
We are able to cater for small groups and parties in our Atrium room.
This private room can be booked for Buffets or Afternoon Teas.
Our Buffets comprise a range of sandwiches, savouries - warm and cold, with scones, cakes etc
Our Afternoon Teas are served on attractive linen tablecloths with delicate vintage china.
Your Vintage Afternoon Tea will comprise a selection of sandwiches and warm savouries;
scones, jam and clotted cream and - as your finale - a selection of dainty cakes!
And served with as much tea and coffee as you need.
We don't hold an alcohol license but we are please to suply glasses should you wish to provide you own
.
Plant Sales
A range of very reasonable priced plants are on sale throughout the year in our newly located Plant Sales area.. Many of the gardening volunteers can help with advice and tips about planting and ongoing care. Plants on sale include: perennials, rockery and alpines, succulents, shrubs, house plants, climbers and bedding plants. And as each year goes by more and more plants are grown and propagated by our volunteers at Winthrop. We are also and always grateful for the many donations of seedlings, cuttings and plants from our customers and friends!
One of our 'all time' best sellers is the Salvia Hot Lips!
The Atrium
Our Atrium Room offers excellent facilities for a range of recreational activities – like yoga or pilates; language classes; regular group meetings etc.
We are keen to encourage ‘regular’ hirers and where a ‘one off’ hiring is sought this will be at the discretion of the Organiser and consistent with the ethos of Winthrop and its community connections.
The facilities ….
Are bright, modern, clean and warm;
Are single storey;
Comprise a large room which can seat up to 30 theatre style, 25 banqueting style;
Have a small kitchen with Tea / coffee making facilities;
Have toilets including facilities for people with disabilities
Room hire rates - as at 28/10/26
Regular hirers (min 4+ bookings) £10 / hour
Casual hirers - £20 / hour
For more information and to make a booking -
Tel 07397 039226
Email: winthropgardens1@gmail.com
Other information you may find useful
Winthrop Gardens - Website Accessibility statement
Wickersley Parish Council / Winthrop Gardens is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. We are actively working to increase the accessibility and usability of our website and in doing so adhere to many of the available standards and guidelines.
This website endeavours to conform to level Double-A of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1. These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities. Conformance with these guidelines will help make the web more user friendly for all people.
This site has been built using code compliant with W3C standards for HTML and CSS. The site displays correctly in current browsers and using standards compliant HTML/CSS code means any future browsers will also display it correctly.
We are continually seeking out solutions that will bring all areas of the site up to the same level of overall web accessibility. In the meantime, should you experience any difficulty in accessing the website, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
If you wish to have any content of this site in an alternative format please do contact us.
Please phone the Winthrop Organiser on 07397 039226
Or email the Winthrop Organiser on winthropgardens1@gmail.com