ALTHOUGH April is living up to its reputation for showers, spring has most definitely arrived with many magnolias in full bloom, the horse chestnut trees coming into leaf and forsythia plants showing a riot of cheery yellow.

And serious gardeners will be dusting off their spades and trowels to prepare the ground for planting.

This week is National Gardening Week and there are a number of events to interest gardening enthusiasts.

Two private gardens taking part in the National Gardens Scheme (NGS) will be opening to the public this weekend.

On Saturday April 16 the five acre garden at Bretforton Manor, on Main Street, Bretforton, near Evesham, will be open from 11 am to 4pm.

The garden contains mixed and herbaceous borders, an exotic border, scented walk and many tender and unusual plants. There are hedges and topiary both old and new, several water features and many listed buildings and structures. The orchard has been extended and now contains a wide variety of fruit and specimen trees.

The dovecote, aviary, apiary, cider barn and old village stocks are all listed and there is a beautiful walled garden, waterfall and ponds, glasshouses and small kitchen garden with cut flower borders. Admission is £6 and children enter free of charge.

On Sunday April 17 the two-acre garden at Bylane, Worcester Road, Earl’s Croome, near Upton-upon-Severn, will open from 1pm to 5pm.

People can wander around the herbaceous garden, a paddock with a wildlife pond, the vegetable garden – with chickens – a wood with mature trees. Admission is £3, with children entering free of charge and home-made teas are available.

National Gardening Week is also being celebrated at the home of the Prince of Wales Highgrove House, Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

The event is said to capture and celebrate the essence and ethos of one of the most creatively inspired gardens of our time, epitomising the horticultural interests and enthusiasms of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.

The Highgrove Garden Festival will bring together a star-studded line up of gardening experts including Alan Titchmarsh, Carol Klein, David Domoney, Sarah Raven and Andy Sturgeon.

Visitors can enjoy the spring plant fair inspired by Highgrove’s own plant collections, a retail pavilion including arts and crafts, books, garden and outdoor accessories as well as local produce.

For more information about events during National Gardening week visit http://nationalgardeningweek.org.uk/Events.aspx

The award-winning Pear Tree Cottage Garden at Wichenford, near Worcester, will be open its gates to the public as part of the NGS over the May Day Bank Holiday Weekend.

It will open on Sunday May 1 from 2pm to 6pm (admission £4) and again on Monday May 2 from 2pm until 10pm when visitors can enjoy the scents, sights and sounds of the cottage garden lit by candles.

Visitors can see bats and hear the owls while enjoying the up-lit quirky garden features which include an old fashioned red telephone box, an old buoy salvaged from Cornwall in 1990 and a well with a restored pump made by ‘Pumpy’ Thomas of Worcester.

Admission is £4.5 and includes a glass of wine. Proceeds from visits to the NGS gardens go to a number of charities including MacMillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, The Queen’s Nursing Institute, Hospice UK and the Carers Trust.