TOUGH TIMES may be lingering, but when it comes to digging deep into the pocket at the garden gate Devon has triumphantly bucked the trend.

A superb record total of was collected throughout the county for National Gardens Scheme charities last year – and that's around £8,000 more than in 2010. This season there's yet another incentive for success – the NGS's 85th year of fund-raising.

Already a handful of early gardens are all set to welcome the public, among them a charming trio near Dolton.

The three gardens at Cherubeer – two miles east of Dolton – will be showing off 150 varieties of snowdrop, as well as the delights of hardy cyclamen and hellebores on Sunday (2pm-5pm). If you can't make it this weekend you'll get a second chance on Thursday, February 16.

The gardens are all close together, all carry the name Cherubeer and belong to members of the same family, yet all have differing appeal. Jo and Tom Hynes, of Higher Cherubeer, urge intending visitors to phone before setting off if the weather is particularly cold in case the gardens are under snow, as they were in 2010.

Entry price is £4 for the triple treat. Soup and home-made goodies will be served and plants, including named varieties of snowdrops and cyclamen, will be there for the buying. To find Cherubeer, turn right travelling south between Beaford and Winkleigh where it is signposted Stafford Moor Fishery and then right again soon afterwards.

Call Jo Hynes on 01805 804265.