Sally Mutton’s open garden event for Prickles in a Pickle’s new hedgehog hospital raised over £450 for the charity.

The event, which took place on Saturday July 29, allowed visitors to explore Sally’s garden and enjoy a glass of Pimms or cup of tea and a cake, in aid of the hedgehog rescue charity.

Prickles in a Pickle, which is located in South Devon, takes in over 1200 hedgehogs a year, protecting them from disturbed nests, or helping those that are wounded or sick. 

Sally said of the day: “We reckon about 50 - 75 people must have turned up. We were so blessed with the weather the whole day was just perfect. 

“I couldn’t have raised all that money without all the help on the day, the raffle prizes, the amazing cakes, tea urns, coffee machines, cups and saucers. I had reached out to friends and colleagues and everyone came through.”

Prickles in a Pickle want to raise awareness of hedgehogs whilst their volunteers work to rescue, treat, rehabilitate and release them, in response to dramatic population decline of hedgehogs that has occurred in the last 20 years. They also want to educate the public on how to encourage and look after wildlife in their gardens and surrounding areas.

Nick Shepherd, visitor to the open garden, said: “I had a wonderful day exploring Sally Mutton’s Garden at Start Bay Park, which she kindly opened up to the public to raise funds for Prickles in a Pickle’s new hospital build. 

As the name implies, this will be a special hospital based at Stoke Fleming to look after sick and injured hedgehogs, with a view to releasing them back into the wild.”

They day also had a special visit from real live human Prickle in a Pickle, Lydia Barnard from the charity.

Sally hoped that her garden would also encourage people to think more about the ways they can help the environment and be innovative with recycling techniques.

Nick said: “Sally’s garden is full of interest. Not only it is full of vegetables and flowers but the whole ethos is based on recycled materials and its friendliness for wildlife. A lot of the materials used have been rescued from the recycling centre at Torr Quarry and the imaginative reuse of industrial containers no longer required by businesses. These materials have been used to make ponds, a 5500-litre storage system, a gravity fed hedgehog feeding station and a 5-star hedgehog hotel. Even old mirrors have been put to good use. At the top of the garden is a specially designed Reiki Garden room where Sally uses the power of reiki to treat humans and dogs.”

“After visiting Sally’s Garden, I feel sure that many people came away with ideas of how they could make their gardens more interesting and nature friendly. In addition to hear that £452 was raised for their cause, was just great.”

A spokesperson for Prickles in a Pickle said: “We currently operate from the founders home and we have now outgrown the property and need a purpose built hospital. We are run entirely by volunteers and therefore every penny we need to build this hospital will need to be raised. 

“At any one time we will have up to 165 hedgehogs in our care plus nursing mothers and babies in a barn, and another volunteer with up to 20 babies for 4 hourly feeds. We cover a huge area of South Devon and its important we have our own hospital.”

Visit the website: www.pricklesinapickle.co.uk.