10,000 ceramic daffodils on sale for charity from Lowther Castle

The event - based on Wordsworth’s eponymous poem - has been put in place by Dockray-based potter Helen Ratcliffe and aims to raise up to £300,000 for six charities, both local and UK-wide.

Thanks to an ‘incredible army’ of volunteers - approximately 350 and counting - most of the daffodils have already been assembled.

Some of the army of volunteers (Image: Lowther Castle)While the event itself will not raise money, sale of the individual daffodils will. Each ceramic flower will be available to buy by members of the public.

They will cost £25 each plus postage and packaging (or via click & collect, if you live in the Penrith area). Buyers will receive them in July, once the installation has been taken down.

The labour involved is all through volunteers and organiser Helen is not being paid for the project.

Any surplus materials and equipment after the production will be donated to local schools and community groups.

Helen Ratcliffe, organiser, said: “Judging by the number of people who have volunteered to help and by their general enthusiasm for the project, I am very excited to see how much money we can raise through the sale of the daffodils.

“Every single one of these charities does remarkable work and we are going to do our utmost to sell every last ceramic flower on their behalf.”

Local charities set to benefit from the daffodil sales include ‘Another Way’, ‘Sunbeams Musical Trust’ ‘Friends of the Ullswater Way’ and ‘Ullswater Catchment Management CIC’.

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In addition to the 10,000 individually hand-made daffodils, ten large daffodils will also feature in the installation.

These will be designed by a talented group of famous potters and potteries, as well as by one or two other prominent individuals with links to Cumbria and to the event’s setting, Lowther Castle.

These pieces will be auctioned through an online event in late June 2023 to be run, H & H Auction Rooms.

Jim Lowther of Lowther Castle said: “We are very excited about this event. It will raise a great deal of money for many important causes. And it will also shine an invaluable spotlight on the work that each charity does.”

The daffodils are already on sale and can be bought online.