New Community Garden launch at Alconbury Weald

Work on the hard landscaping for Alconbury Weald’s new Community Garden is nearing completion and it will soon be ready for residents of all ages and interests to start using as an outdoor meeting space, to learn new skills, enjoy time outside and grow fresh produce together.  

Community gardens provide a wide range of health and wellbeing benefits and the launch event – from 11am-1pm on Thursday 17 April – is a great opportunity for residents to start thinking about how they would like the space to be used and share their ideas.  The launch event will also include a boot camp with The Unit Fitness (11am), storytelling with professional storyteller, Marion Leeper (11.45am) and yoga (12.30pm) as well as a range of activities, including bulb and wildflower planting. Please register for the boot camp, storyteller session and yoga on Eventbrite - search ‘Alconbury Weald’. 

Designed with input from residents, the accessible Community Garden features paths, raised timber and tabletop planters, trellis for berries, a community orchard, a roofed storytelling area and a pergola for community workshops and use as an outdoor classroom. There is also a grassed area that can be used to expand the community garden in the future, as new residents move to Alconbury Weald. 

In early March, over 30 people helped plant fruit trees and hedgerows around the boundary of the Community Garden. As these trees and hedgerows mature, they will produce apples and pears for residents to enjoy and vital resources for a range of wildlife including birds, bats, harvest mice, hedgehogs, butterflies and bees.

Adam Castleton, who specialises in community-focused projects and will be supporting the establishment of the Community Garden, said: “The space will evolve organically over time and I’m looking forward to meeting residents to find out what they want and how they would like the Community Garden to be run.