The boss of Alnwick Garden has talked of an "incredible" spring and early summer for the visitor attraction after challenges last year which forced a small number of jobs losses.
CEO Mark Brassell talked of a mixed picture for the Northumberland site across spring and summer 2024 as extremes of weather impacted normally busy times but with hopes that an "outstanding" Christmas season can be repeated this year. And as the garden enters is 25th year, a programme of celebratory events is on the horizon.
Speaking to BusinessLive following the publication of fresh accounts to the end of March 2025 for The Alnwick Garden Trust, Mr Brassell described highly encouraging numbers despite the twin shocks of unstable weather and burdensome National Insurance Contributions rises. Following the Chancellor's Autumn Budget in 2024 the charity was forced to become "more lean, mean and efficient" as it sought to shield visitors from any price rises.
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The Trusts accounts show a modest reduction in visitor services and retail staff over the year, but an overall rise in headcount from 202 to 216. Documents show a climb in revenue from £4.99m to £5.13m and growth in Ebitda after impact of more than £389,000 compared with a loss of £28,000 last year. A wide range of community work including education, food wastage and creative projects is also detailed in the report.
Mr Brassell explained: "It started dreadfully. I think it rained from about April 1 and didn't stop until July. So not having a spring and summer was problematic. And then the major challenge - which hit in November - was the Chancellor's speech which added tremendous costs on our bottom line and created all sorts of pressure on us.
"But that was a turning point and December was absolutely brilliant - people came out in massive numbers to support us. February was our best February to date, and March, which is normally quite a quiet month for us depending when Easter falls, was also stellar. It was a really strong end after a really poor beginning."
This year has brought a similarly mixed picture. Mr Brassell added: "This year we had the most incredible April and May - the likes of which I've not seen in my 10 years at the garden - so that was a really good start. Since then it's been sort of average.
"It petered out and our June and July were OK, the August was a bit below average and I think that was because of such good weather and we were competing against the beaches of Northumberland. Now, we're back on track and level pegging with last year."
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Last year the Garden saw more than 622,000 visitors including to its major Winter Light Trail event, and to the first full year of its huge Lilidorei play structure. Alnwick Garden founder the Duchess of Northumberland - now a trustee of the charity - has masterminded two Lilidorei-related books which that are about to be published including an illustrated guide to the attraction that will introduce the characters there and a novel about what they get up to.
Adjustments have been made to the running of Lilidorei since its opening. Mr Brassell explained: "A lot of the things we assumed about people's behaviour, before we opened Lilidorei, haven't come to pass. The one thing we learned this year is the combined ticket is by far and away the most popular ticket.
"When we opened we also had three different sessions a day to give people an experience. But what we were finding was people felt under pressure so we said: 'Let's just open up all day and you can come and go as you please'. All of a sudden that pressure to have a good time in a short period of time disappeared and the feedback went through the roof because of that."
Now, there are hopes for another bumper Christmas season for the Garden notwithstanding widespread pressure on household budgets. Mr Brassell added: "The one thing they won't scrimp on is their Christmas experiences. That's what we found last year; we expected things to be quite rough at Christmas but it was the complete opposite.
"People decided they were going to do one decent thing that year and it was a really good Christmas with the family. We were lucky that we fitted the bill in terms of the experience we offer, and our affordability and value for money."