Celebrate Valentine’s Day in Marlborough’s secret garden

More than a 1000 twinkling candles will turn Marlborough’s secret garden into a magical celebration of Valentine’s Day. The Plume of Feathers garden, hidden behind houses and the old Post Office on London Road, accessed from Kelham Gardens will be open from 6-8pm on Friday, Feb 14th, weather permitting (check on Marlborough Noticeboard on Facebook), entrance free. 

The garden is owned by Marlborough Town Council but leased to Waythrough, formerly the Richmond Fellowship, a mental health charity. The garden has long been an ongoing source of wellbeing in the community and is looked after by Waythrough volunteers, local neighbours and volunteers from Seasalt and Pewsey scouts. This is the fourth year an event will be running and each year it has grown in popularity. This event was postponed from Dec 21^st, the Winter Solstice, due to high winds and stormy weather.

Danny O’Donoghue, from Waythrough, told Marlborough.news, ”This year’s Candlelit Event is February 14^th – helpfully coinciding with St Valentine’s Day – for those of a romantic persuasion.

We are hoping people might take a candlelit walk before any alternative romantic liaisons they have planned on the evening in Marlborough, or simply come to enjoy a celebration of light, open fires and mulled apple juice, as we move toward the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

Staff from Marlborough High Street retailer Seasalt will be supporting us again, and local friends and neighbourhood supporters to whom we remain enormously grateful.  

As a group we continue to volunteer at the garden every Friday, and at other locations including Wiltshire Wildlife owned Hat Gate Reserve along the road to Wootton Rivers from Cadley; and at our woodland site, used by Vale of Pewsey Scout group for outdoor activities, up near Martinsell Hill on Clench Common.  

We continue to receive organisational support from Waythrough – formerly Richmond Fellowship, following our merger in October 2024.

Waythrough is a coming together from a position of strength of two large voluntary sector organisations – Richmond Fellowship and Humankind – pooling resources and expertise from 100 years combined experience in mental health and substance use services respectively.”