Donation protected
“This garden takes you on a spiritual journey. Pure magic.”
— Pilar Medrano Dell, RHS Herbaceous Plant Committee
Cascades Gardens, our family home and a public sanctuary visited by thousands every season, is now under immediate threat of repossession.
For 30 years my step-father Alan Clements—a cancer survivor and former Vice-President of the Tibet Relief Fund—has transformed a 19th-century Derbyshire quarry into four acres of heaven, crowned by a giant golden Buddha donated in memory of our late friend and humanitarian Riki Hyde-Chambers OBE.
Visitors call it “a truly relaxing and tranquil place.” It is an RHS Partner Garden, has opened for the National Garden Scheme for almost three decades, and through those charity open days has raised thousands of pounds for health and nursing causes. The garden is also the living embodiment of Alan’s lifelong work supporting Tibetan refugees under the patronage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Why we are in crisis
After the 2008 crash, our mortgage was sold to a closed-book lender. Our interest rate has been forced up to almost 10%, and monthly payments have leapt from £1,900 to £4,450. Despite squeezing every penny we can, repossession proceedings have begun. If they succeed, our home will be taken and this unique public garden destroyed.
What your donation will do
- Urgent specialist legal fees and professional negotiations to ring-fence the garden land from the mortgage so it can never be destroyed.
- Every pound beyond the target will fund ongoing legal appeals and keep Cascades Gardens open, maintained and accessible to the public.
- Every donation will go directly to protecting the garden.
How you can help right now
- Please donate whatever you can .
- Click here to add your name to the petition.
- Share this story and shine light on the hidden crisis trapping 195,000+ UK mortgage-prisoner families.
Why it matters far beyond our gates
Saving Cascades Gardens protects an irreplaceable place of peace and sends a clear message to lenders and policymakers: predatory rates that bankrupt families and erase community assets will be challenged.
“A deeply spiritual garden. I went through goose-bumps, tears, then a profound sense of peace.”
— Visitor, Cascades Gardens guest book
Media coverage:
- Our story is now featured in The i newspaper
- Look for the upcoming coverage on BBC East Midlands Today, BBC social media and Radio Derby – we’ll post the links here as soon as they go live.
Thank you for standing with us in defence of beauty, justice and hope.
— Darius Mossaberi, on behalf of Cascades Gardens
About Me
I’m Darius Mossaberi, leading the campaign to save Cascades Gardens from unfair repossession. All funds will cover legal and professional costs our family can no longer meet alone.
Organiser
Darius Mossaberi
Organiser