Ararat Relay for Life team, `Gems', aimed to raise money for the Cancer Council fundraiser, an 18 hour relay which will begin on November 13 at the Alexandra Oval.

Jeannie McKinnis, Marlene and David Lowing, Carmel Brennan and Pauline and Mick Johnstone all kindly opened their gardens and in the Johnstone's case, a Car Museum, to visitors. The day was a huge success and managed to raise approximately $700 through entry fees and raffle money. While visitors were mostly from Ararat, some people travelled from Woolhara and Maroona for the event.

''Every garden looked magnificent, it was a very enjoyable afternoon,'' team leader Judy Gleeson said.

Mrs Gleeson said the garden owners had put in a lot of work to make their gardens especially presentable for the event, but generally they were beautiful gardens anyway. Visitors to the gardens were all very respectful and Mrs Gleeson said the clean-up was minimal. Volunteers provided an afternoon tea of scones and carrot cake, and the excitement of the afternoon was heightened by raffles and a lucky door prize.

Although the open day was a lot of work for garden owners, Mrs Gleeson said that the visitors' kind comments and words of appreciation made it all worth it.

''It's definitely something that we'll do again,'' Mrs Gleeson said.

The Gems will hold a sausage sizzle tomorrow morning to raise further funds which, along with the money from the open gardens event, will go directly to the Cancer Council for cancer research.

''We're very confident,'' Mrs Gleeson said.

''We've already reached our target.''