Privacy Policy

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This Privacy Policy explains how UK Garden Directory (“we”, “us”, “our”) collects, uses, and protects your personal information when you use this website.

Who we are

Our website address is: https://ukgardendirectory.co.uk.

What this site does

UK Garden Directory is an online directory that helps people find garden businesses and garden-related places across the UK, such as garden centres, plant nurseries, gardening services, fencing, landscaping, tree surgeons, community gardens, and gardens to visit.

Some listings are submitted by business owners. Others may be created using publicly available information. Business owners can claim and update listings to keep them accurate and complete.

Information we collect

1) Information you provide to us

Depending on how you use the website, we may collect:

  • Contact details such as your name, email address, and phone number (e.g., when you submit a claim request or contact us).
  • Business listing details such as business name, website, address, opening hours, services, and images (when you add or edit a listing).
  • Messages you send us through forms (e.g., claim messages or support enquiries).

2) Information collected automatically

When you visit our website, we may automatically collect:

  • Your IP address and basic device/browser information (used for security and spam protection).
  • Technical information such as pages visited, time spent on site, and referral sources (used to improve website performance).

3) Location-related information (“Near me” searches)

If you use our “near me” or distance search tools, you may enter a town/city or postcode. We use this information only to generate search results and do not permanently store your search queries as personal data.

Comments

If comments are enabled on parts of the site, and you leave a comment, we collect the data shown in the comment form, as well as your IP address and browser user agent string to help with spam detection.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you use it. The Gravatar privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/.

After approval of your comment, your profile picture may be visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media uploads

If you upload images to the website (for example, as part of a listing), please avoid uploading images that include embedded location data (EXIF GPS).

Visitors may be able to download and extract location data from images that contain it.

Cookies

We use cookies to help the website function correctly and improve user experience. Cookies are small files stored on your device.

Comment cookies

If you leave a comment, you may opt in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies. These are for convenience and last for up to one year.

Login cookies

If you visit our login page, we set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is deleted when you close your browser.

When you log in, we set cookies to save your login information and screen preferences. Login cookies typically last for two days, and screen preference cookies may last up to one year.

If you select “Remember Me”, your login may persist for up to two weeks. Logging out removes the login cookies.

Editing cookies

If you edit or publish content (such as a listing), an additional cookie may be saved. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID that was edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Some pages may include embedded content (for example, Google Maps links, YouTube videos, or social media content). Embedded content behaves as if you visited the third-party website directly.

These third-party websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed tracking, and monitor your interaction with embedded content.

Payments and upgrades

We may offer paid listing upgrades. Payments are processed securely by third-party payment providers such as PayPal. We do not store your full payment card details on our website.

PayPal may collect and process your payment details in accordance with its privacy policy and terms.

Who we share your data with

We do not sell your personal data.

We may share limited information only when necessary to provide website services, for example:

  • Security and spam prevention services (where enabled)
  • Payment providers such as PayPal (for upgrades)

If you request a password reset, your IP address may be included in the reset email for security purposes.

How long we retain your data

Comments

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata may be retained indefinitely so follow-up comments can be recognised and approved automatically.

User accounts

If you create an account, we store the personal information you provide in your profile. You can view, edit, or delete most of your profile information at any time (except your username). Website administrators can also access and edit that information for administrative purposes.

Listing claims and submissions

Claim requests and listing submissions may be retained for record-keeping, support, fraud prevention, and administrative purposes.

Your rights

If you have an account on this site or have submitted information through our forms, you can request:

  • A copy of the personal data we hold about you
  • Correction of inaccurate information
  • Deletion of your personal data (where applicable)

Please note: we may retain some information where required for legal, security, or administrative reasons.

To request access or deletion, please contact us via our contact page.

Where your data is sent

Visitor form submissions and comments may be checked through automated spam detection services.

Contact us

If you have questions about this policy or how we handle personal data, please contact us via Contact Us.