A glimpse into how The Alnwick Garden is looking ahead of reopening next month

Photographer Jane Coltman was given a sneak peak to see how the attraction is getting ready to welcome the public back from Wednesday, July 1.

A host of measures are being put in place to ensure the attraction complies with social distancing requirements.

For the foreseeable future, The Alnwick Garden will also become a cash-free environment.

Online booking is also essential.

Its website states: ‘After careful consideration we have made the decision to limit our daily visitor numbers to less than 50% of our capacity, as well as introducing timed entry slots to reduce potential queuing on entry to The Garden.

‘You will also see that several entrances, exits, doorways and routes have changed on our site to safeguard social distancing.

‘Please follow the one-way routes where applicable. If you need to double back, please do so at the earliest juncture instead of turning around as this compromises the safety of other visitors.’

The Gift Shop and Plant Centre have temporarily relocated and will only be accepting card payments.

Access to The Treehouse will remain closed at this time.

There will be limited toilet facilities available, these will be cleaned every 20 minutes for your safety.

The food and drinks offer will be limited and will be takeaway only. Picnics will be allowed.

The Poison Garden will be open but there will be no guided tours.

Its swinging benches are being thoroughly sanitised twice a day. Visitors are asked to use the sanitisers available at the top of the Cherry Orchard before and after use.

At this time the children’s tractors will be unavailable.

If you have booked a time slot for Adventure Golf please follow the signage on the one-way system to the golf kiosk (unless otherwise directed) where a member of staff will greet you. If you have not booked tickets and wish to play limited slots may be available, but visitors are advised to book in advance to avoid disappointment.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you.