The 22st July is National Hammock Day!  It’s a day dedicated to relaxing and just lounging about in a hammock – to enjoy being in the outdoors, maybe enjoy a good book, listen to the birds around you as they chirp away, and watch any clouds as they float by.

Hammocks go right back to the Mayan civilisation, so over 1,000 – they were great for giving people the chance to sleep off the ground, and later on, sea crossings by explorers not only discovered lands previously unknown, but they also discovered people using hammocks. And the sailors fast found that the hammock saved space on board ship – and were pretty stable in bad weather.  And an added bonus was that you could take them down in the day very easily and put them away somewhere until you next needed them.

Now, of course most people will associate the hammock with a relaxing afternoon somewhere, meant for you.  Amazon has lots of hammocks to choose from, if you’re looking for a gift for someone, and you can give them lots of relaxing times in the garden – and they can take the hammock down after use, too.  You can just imagine having a quiet time to yourself, when everyone else is out, swinging gently in your hammock, really escaping from everything.

Someone else loves hammocks, too!

Give a rescue bear some privacy with a hammock!

Bears love them!  And if you’re looking for a gift for someone who loves relaxation and bears, how about treating rescue bears to a hammock gift?

Free the Bears rescue bears being held captive in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and they care for them beary carefully in their sanctuaries.   Many of these bears have been through a terrible time, held in tiny cages with little room to move and be a bear.  They have had awful diets, their teeth may be in a bad state and they may have difficulty moving because of being in enclosed spaces for so long. 

Free the Bears have now rescued over 1,000 bears and the bears receive the best of care – veterinary help, a good diet, water and a space to roam and be a bear. 

Normally, Free the Bears say that the bears are normally solitary but because of space restrictions, they share enclosures.  Enter a  hammock, to give these beautiful bears some privacy – a bear necessity! 

And not only that, the hammocks for the bears are made by volunteers!  Your donation covers the cost of the materials needed for the bears’ hammock, and the volunteers make them up!

You can dedicate this gift to a loved one & email them an e-card with a personal message.  The e-card has gorgeous pictures of the bears.   This is a really meaningful gift to help bears who have been through a very difficult time.  

There are other gifts for the bears too, starting at £8.00.

Find out more here.

I wanted to give a shout-out to the National Garden Scheme.

It’s amazing – it gives visitors access to over 3,500 incredible private gardens in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands.  And it also raises huge amounts of money for nursing  and health charities through admissions, teas and cakes.

So how did it the National Garden Scheme begin?

Back in 1887, the Queen’s Nursing Institute was founded to co-ordinate national standards for district nurses. And it had the objectives of giving the ‘training, support, maintenance and supply’ of nurses for the sick poor, and establishing training homes, supervising centres and co-operating with other bodies.

In 1926, a council member – Miss Elsie Wagg – had the idea of raising funds for district nursing, through the obsession the nation had with gardening. 

So in 1927 the National Garden Scheme was founded.  Garden owners were asked to open their gardens for a shilling a head.   Over 600 gardens were opened and raised £8,191.

Why not buy a gift from the National Garden Scheme online shop?
It's a way to give the scheme your support!

Since that time, the National Garden Scheme has donated over £70 million to nursing and health charities.  In 2023, it made an annual donation of over £3.4 million.  Core beneficiaries include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK and The Queen’s Nursing Institute.

But the Scheme also believes in the benefits of gardens, too, both physical and mental.

Children go free at most – but not all – gardens so taking the kids to a garden which is part of the scheme could give you a budget-friendly day out, and get the kids outdoors!

They’ve also got online talks so that you can listen to them from home (there is a small charge)!

They’ve also got volunteering opportunities, too! 

Their website has an excellent search facility to help you find the sort of garden you want to visit, so you can look for gardens with wheel-chair access, and which are dog friendly, and those which have refreshments and plants for sale.  You can look to see which gardens are open today, tomorrow, in the next 7 days and the next 28 days too!   And some gardens are open by arrangement.

Visit the National Garden Scheme's website here to find out more.

If you love giving the birds and wildlife in your garden a gift, take a look at Garden Wildlife Direct. 

They’ve got everything you need for the birds and wildlife in your garden, be it bird food, bird baths, nesting boxes,  bird feeding stations and a huge range of feeders, wildlife houses, hedgehog food, suet food, plus garden ornaments.   They have window stick alerts, too, so the birds know there’s a window and don’t try to fly through it. 

They’ve also got quite a range of books and gifts for wildlife and bird lovers, and they also have bird feeding starter kits for anyone who wants to give feeding the birds a go for the first time.

Fly off to Garden Wildlife Direct here and treat them to something special!