This two-acre walled Victorian garden was last featured in our Winter 2003/2004 Newsletter. Since then things have moved on and the garden now operates on a self sustaining basis.
The garden pays its way through the sale of fresh grown fruit and vegetables and is used as a unique open air community centre providing a practical demonstration of sustainable living. With a further grant of £8,057 to improve access and the facilities within the garden they have built a tipi for local school children to use during their regular visits and made improvements to the shelter used by the garden's many volunteers.
The main focus of the project now is to improve links with other LEADER+ projects in, and outside the Dorset Chalk and Cheese area. So far, they have developed close links with the Chalk and Hawks project where Kestrel's have nested in the supplied box for the last two years. Other LEADER+ projects that they are working with are the Springhead Trust and the Dorset Centre for Rural Skills to develop an integrated approach to sustainable living and how to support this across Dorset.
Ani Sax, the project manager, has also visited the Bridewell Organic Garden in Oxford, which was set up to look at various horticultural therapies. She found it a very inspiring place with craft areas and a working forge and is looking forward to establishing strong links so that they can work together and share knowledge.
This project illustrates perfectly how with a good idea, motivated people and help with funding, projects such as this can be developed to become a self sustaining business providing local people with local produce. Include the fact that many of the people working in the garden are local volunteers it shows that a community based initiative can exist alongside more commercial businesses.
