KIPLIN Hall and Gardens is looking for nominations for key workers to receive free annual garden pass tickets.
The estate, in Kiplin, North Yorkshire, is a 400-year-old Jacobean house, now a museum, surrounded by stunning grounds, including lakeside walks, woodland paths and a productive walled garden.
James Etherington, director of Kiplin Hall and Gardens, said: "We can all see how hard key staff are working right now. At Kiplin we want to do what we can to help. We aren’t in a position to make ventilators or protective equipment, but we can make our healing spaces available to key workers for free, as soon as we are allowed.
"Kiplin has been a place of solace in the past, and we will be here to offer people a tranquil space once this initial crisis has passed. In 1940 men evacuated from Dunkirk arrived at the house for rest and recovery.”
Bridget Talbot, the last owner of Kiplin Hall credited with saving it for the nation, wrote of the Dunkirk arrival in 1940 which she circulated to newspapers: “After Dunkirk a regiment was given a rendezvous at the house; all day and all night straggling and exhausted men arrived.
"It was a sight never to be forgotten with the hot sun streaming in at the windows on to the pictures, old furniture, the walls of books and the floor a silent carpet of prostrate khaki figures. With the help of a little gardening, bathing in the river and sleeping these Dunkirk men gradually recovered from their weariness and mended their shattered nerves.”
Kiplin welcomes nominations from or for anyone providing a key service, for example; hospitals, post offices, delivery companies, schools, waste collection services and food shops.
The annual garden pass will cover whatever remains of the 2020 season once the lockdown is lifted, and the 2021 open season. Any future visits to Kiplin will be subject to the lifting of the lockdown and in line with any social distancing that may be required at the time.
To make a nomination, please follow Kiplin Hall on Facebook or contact marketing@kiplinhall.co.uk.
More information about Kiplin Hall and Gardens can be found online at www.kiplinhall.co.uk where you will also find a virtual touch screen tour of the hall, video-guided tours on YouTube, historical research into family trees, as well as recipes from the tea room and updates during the lockdown on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
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