Alnwick: welcome to a duchess's garden She believes "Alnwick garden is about entertaining visitors. There's room for all kinds of gardens and they all enhance people's lives. I want to amaze, delight and educate. Our garden attracts some who don't normally visit gardens, mostly due to the famous Grand Cascade and The Poison Garden, but many come from the local community because of the various programmes we run with the health authority, giving healthy eating advice, combatting loneliness in old age, offering drop-in centres for those with dementia and their carers; and with local schools promoting drug and anti-social behaviour education. The Duchess breaks rules and encourages visitors to do the same. The raspberries in the Ornamental Garden are there to be eaten, the rills to be paddled in and the roses to be sniffed. Visitors are not kept off the grass, and children visit the garden for just 1p. Alnwick is an inclusive place, where those who are disadvantaged by age, illness or poverty can enjoy the space and learn, while they are having fun. Children play in the water features Over 70 local schools in deprived and inner city areas are taking part in the Roots and Shoots scheme, enjoying picking and eating homegrown food, learning about healthier choices. The Forget-me-not Project is designed for families with disabilities and difficulties, helping children to visit this and other attractions, and offering short breaks, cookery lessons and craft sessions. I met William, aged 12 and his mum Margaret Knox, who showed me his garden, packed full of sweetcorn, peas, beetroot and carrots. He has learning difficulties, but with plenty of energy, he loves digging. The Elderberry Project helps elderly people get together to combat loneliness and depression. John and Jenny enjoy the company, activities and "the really inspiring garden," and Norma told me she looks forward to coming to the garden every fortnight. There are leisure courses and therapeutic treatments and even speed dating sessions. The Blooming Well programme funds a long-term programme of therapeutic gardening and cookery, art and craft workshops for those living with memory loss and early onset dementia. Staff are helped by a 90 strong volunteer force (recently awarded with the Queen's Medal for Voluntary Service) and a group of 15 young volunteers. The garden employs over 300 during peak season, including Tommy Thompson who was potting bee-friendly plants in the nursery. He worked in a local chicken factory for 15 years, "You don't feel you have a choice" Then he volunteered a day a week at Alnwick and now works fulltime despite suffering from cerebral palsy, and loves the opportunities his job has given him. This is the garden's seventh incarnation, from Capability Brown, through inter-war food production, to a conifer nursery. The garden's involvement with the locals started with the fourth Duke who declared "The Park will be open to the public on Sundays after Divine Service. Namely from 1 o'clock pm to sunset," and the first Duchess had a sense of drama too, she commissioned the figures on the castle battlements - familiar to Harry Potter fans. But what will the future bring? The biggest challenge to all open gardens is winter, and there are plans for a major lighting display. The lights will replace the flowers. The Duchess is one of the judges for our Gardening Against the Odds Awards, and knows how gardens and gardening can genuinely turn around peoples" lives. Our own involvement in the local community depends on the time and means at our disposal, but what could be more enjoyable than helping others through gardening? Nominate a person or group locally to you who have made a difference. Apply at our Gardening Against the Odds awards page, or post entries to Life, The Sunday Telegraph, 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0DT. Closing date for entries is Monday September 23, 2013.