Lord and Lady Archer open their garden in Grantchester to public for RNLI

Lord and Lady Archer opened the garden at their Grantchester home – The Old Vicarage, immortalised in the famous poem by Rupert Brooke – to the public last Sunday (June 27) as part of RNLI Open Gardens.

There was an impressive turnout and, along with an RNLI tent offering information and selling books, jars of honey, postcards, etc, drinks and cakes were available to buy and musical entertainment was supplied by a choir – which counted Dame Mary Archer among its ranks.

Geoff Heathcock, chairman of the RNLI Cambridge & District branch, said: “This has come about because the RNLI this year is really going great guns with Open Gardens, but also it enables to remind people that the RNLI is there, seven days a week, 365, and anything people can do to help is always going to be gratefully received.”

Lord Archer told the Cambridge Independent that the RNLI is one of his favourite charities. "At my home in Weston-super-Mare, where I was brought up, it's a big deal, the RNLI, so when they approached us and said could we have a garden party, we were happy to help," he said.

"Cambridge is landlocked, so getting people to support the RNLI isn't easy so we offered him [Geoff Heathcock] the garden today." Lord Archer added that it was a “great privilege to live in this beautiful home”.

For more on the RNLI, visit rnli.org.

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