A York community centre fundraising campaign has received a major boost after villagers opened their gardens to the public.

The Poppleton Garden trail last weekend featured 14 gardens in Nether and Upper Poppleton, which were enjoyed by 850 visitors.

One of the organisers, Bob Wood, said: “The event used to be held every four years but because of Covid-19 lockdowns there hasn’t been one since 2017.

“Because our community centre is badly in need of funds to bring about our Out o’ Space Project to add more multi-use meeting rooms and enlarge the café/bar, we thought it was high time we brought the Garden Trail back to life.”

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In addition to the open gardens, Askham Bryan College provided floristry demonstrations throughout the weekend, refreshments were available at numerous sites around the village and a childrens’ competition, Quacker’s Quest, invited youngsters to hunt for little ducks hidden in each of the gardens.

The event was sponsored by local estate agents Hudson Moody, whose local office joined in by hiding one of the ducks in their window.

The Poppleton Centre Manager, Beth Kirkham, said: “It was a fabulous social weekend showing Poppleton off at its best and when we totted up the figures and realised we’d made over £4,000 to help super-size The Poppleton Centre. We are delighted.”

With this funding boost The Out o’ Space Project has now raised more than £200,000, close to its first stage £300,000 target.

Bob Wood added: “Many thanks to everyone who opened their gardens and who came along to visit them and the money the Garden Trail raised is fantastic – Our Go Fund Me page is still open at gofundme.com/f/outospace-project and we’d be delighted for any support that anyone can give us to help achieve our target.”