A FIRST-time visitor to Amisfield Walled Garden was so impressed that she donated £5,000.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, visited the garden, on the outskirts of Haddington, in February.

June Tainsh, volunteer coordinator at the garden, admitted she was stunned by the kind-hearted and unexpected gesture.

She said: “It was amazing; just out of the blue. She was not someone who had been to the garden before and she just came in and said she liked it.” The Amisfield Preservation Trust was formed in 1999 in a bid to restore and retain the garden.

The board of trustees is made up of directors, who bring a range of professional skills and experience, and have a shared passion to see the garden project flourish.

In 2012, the trust was granted a 99-year lease of the walled garden and surrounding area from the current owners, East Lothian Council, on the condition that the garden was developed as a community resource.

Mrs Tainsh added: “The lady in question called into the garden whilst out on a walk around Haddington and was so impressed with Amisfield that she came along to our most recent design evening.

“Amongst other things, one of our topics that evening was how we were going to approach the next stage of planning our winter garden – our generous benefactor decided to make this donation to help us buy some of the costlier plants for this area of the garden, such as large shrubs, trees and groundcover.” The volunteer coordinator said the woman, from Edinburgh, handed over a cheque “there and then”.

She added: “I wanted to hug her! I felt quite emotional about it.

“It was really amazing, there were a lot of volunteers there to see her do it and she has been back to the garden since. She plans to visit once a month because she lives in Edinburgh.” The donation will make “a huge difference” to what volunteers at the garden can do.

Already, they have started tackling one of the new willow beds – one of the things they can create themselves from cuttings – in anticipation of moving on to the structural planting for the winter garden.

Mrs Tainsh added: “It was just great. We are very grateful to her and I think she will stay involved.

“What she likes about the garden is it is a community garden and hopefully it will stay that way forever.

“She can come in at any point, as anyone can, and see what it is going on.”