Legal
Cookie Policy
Every cookie this website sets, what it does, and how long it lasts. There are no advertising or tracking cookies.
Last updated: July 2026
The short version
This site uses three cookies, all of them strictly necessary to make it work: one to keep you signed in, one to remember you if you tick "keep me signed in", and one to keep our forms secure. We do not use Google Analytics, advertising pixels, social media trackers, or any other third-party tracking.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary, UK law (the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations) does not require us to ask your permission for them. We show a short notice so you know they exist rather than to extract a consent we do not need.
Cookies we set
| Name | Purpose | Expires | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
ggsess |
Identifies your browsing session so the site can remember that you are signed in and keep the contents of a form as you move between pages. It holds only a random identifier — no personal data. | When you close your browser, or after 2 hours of inactivity | Strictly necessary |
ggremember |
Set only if you tick "keep me signed in". Lets you return without re-entering your password. Contains your account number and a random secret; only a hash of that secret is stored on our server, so the cookie cannot be forged from our database. | 30 days | Strictly necessary |
_token (in page, not a cookie) |
A one-time value embedded in every form to prove the submission came from our own page. This is what prevents cross-site request forgery — someone else's website silently submitting a form as you. | Per page load | Strictly necessary |
Browser storage we use
Your accessibility preferences are saved in your browser's local storage, not in a cookie. They never leave your device and are never sent to us:
| Key | What it remembers |
|---|---|
gg-text-size | Your chosen text size |
gg-contrast | Whether high contrast mode is on |
gg-motion | Whether you have asked us to reduce animations |
gg-cookies | That you have seen this notice, so we stop showing it |
Third parties
PayPal
If you pay an invoice or set up automatic payments, PayPal's checkout loads on that page and will set its own cookies to process the payment and prevent fraud. This only happens on the payment pages inside your account — never on the public site. PayPal's own cookie policy explains what they use.
Maps
Our contact page embeds a map from OpenStreetMap. It is loaded only on that page and OpenStreetMap does not use tracking cookies.
Spam protection
Our forms are protected by a built-in maths question and a hidden field that bots tend to fill in — neither uses a cookie. If Google reCAPTCHA is ever enabled on this site, Google would set its own cookies on the pages containing a form, and we would update this page to say so.
How we count visits without cookies
We do keep a rough idea of which pages are popular, but we do it by incrementing a counter against the page path and the date — nothing more. There is no cookie, no identifier, no session stitching, and nothing that could be linked back to you or to any other page you visited.
Controlling cookies
You can delete or block cookies through your browser settings. Because ours are strictly necessary, blocking them will stop you signing in and will cause forms to be rejected — but you will still be able to read every public page of the site.
Questions
Email info@gardeningguru.co.uk and we will answer plainly. See also our privacy policy.