Tag: community gardening

A Vintage Tea Party – Bowbrook Allotment Community

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 10, 2017
1 Comment on A Vintage Tea Party – Bowbrook Allotment Community

The second post about nostalgia is all about a day back in the summer.

We decided to try something new for our 2016 summer celebrations at our allotment site, Bowbrook Allotment Community – a vintage tea party. Jude and Liz worked hard planning and preparing for the event, ensuring we had plenty to eat and drink, the children had activities and making sure everyone knew what was going on.

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So our members donated lots of fancy home-made cakes especially little buns and fairy cakes which looked so colourful and of course tasty when our tea ladies, the Tea Bags, set them out ready for all to enjoy.

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We always cut flowers from around the site’s communal gardens to use to create table centre decorations and they always add so much to any event.

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We asked members to come dressed in vintage clothes and they rose to the challenge, which added greatly to the atmosphere. Even the Tea Bags dressed in vintage styled pinafores.

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We bought traditional lawn games for the children to enjoy. Many of these games were new to them but they were all enjoyed. It was good to hear so much children’s laughter as they skipped away, wooden blocks tumbled down as they played Tenga and quoits were thrown over targets.

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Once we launched into the tea party lots of our allotment community gardeners came along with friends and family, enjoying the chance to get together, catch up and chat in an informal atmosphere. A great time was had by all! Music from the 40’s added to the atmosphere with Glen Miller being a favourite.

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We had a few other surprises in store too, an old grey Massey Fergusson tractor, an oil engine, and my collection of vintage garden tools.

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The Vintage Tea Party proved to be a very popular event and we have had lots of requests to make it an annual event at our allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community. For more information about our allotment community visit our website, http://www.bowbrookallotments.co. uk .

Tags allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community, Bowbrook Allotments, cakes, communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit, Massey Fergusson, old tractor, tea party, vintage, vintage tea party

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Ponthafren – an amazing community garden.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 30, 2016
2 Comments on Ponthafren – an amazing community garden.

We love visiting community gardens whenever we can find one to explore. We like to see what they are trying to do and particularly how gardening is involved in their client activities. We were delighted to find one open under the auspices of the National Garden Scheme not far away just over the Welsh border into Powys. As we approached over a river bridge and first spotted the building we were taken aback by its sheer size. It looked an impressive building with its gardens sloping down to the river bank.

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We received a warm welcome from the volunteers who ran the centre and enjoyed a tasty cup of tea and extravagant looking cup cake each as we chatted and learned more about the work of the group. We were amazed at what we heard and were full of admiration.

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We couldn’t wait to wander around the garden and see what the volunteer leaders and their clients were up to on this steeply sloping wooded riverside site.

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Bunting and flags always add to the feeling of being warmly welcome in any garden and here they fluttered in profusion.

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Mosaics were popular ways of decorating features here from table tops to sundials. The clients created these in their art and craft sessions.

There were clues at every turn that wildlife was welcome to share the garden with the clients, volunteers and visitors.

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There was such a sense of humour prevailing throughout the community garden and many craft items created by the clients illustrated this.

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As with any garden whatever its primary function fine examples of plants are good to see.

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Productive gardening was all part of the work here with the produce grown and nurtured by the clients being sold to help raise funds for the community garden. Wormeries sat in one corner working away producing compost and liquid feed for the veg.

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We found some fine examples of craftwork in metal and fabrics among the plants on the slopes.

We finished our tour by taking wooden steps and gravel paths down to the riverside where we ended beneath colourful cheerful bunting just as we had started. We were so glad to have discovered this special place run by such special people and they also told us of another community not too far away which may be a place for a future visit.

Tags communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit, fruit and veg growing, gardening for wildlife, outdoor sculpture, productive gardening

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Some Little Churches of Herefordshire – Part 2

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 22, 2016
2 Comments on Some Little Churches of Herefordshire – Part 2

Following on from studying St Michael’s at Brimfield we drove along narrow lanes towards another small village called Yarpole. The direction sign at a junction directed us along an even narrower lane to Yarpole itself and on the opposite side of the road we spotted a brown Tourist Sign directing us to Yarpole Belfry. Thus we were expecting to find a belfry but no church. Separate belfries are a feature of several Herefordshire’s churches.

But when we drove into the village following signs for the Belfry we found both the belfry and an accompanying church only a few metres apart. We certainly were not expecting to find such an exciting place! The church here in Yarpole was a true community affair. We were in for many delightful and heart-warming surprises.

As we closed the car doors alongside the churchyard we got our first view of St Leonard’s over a low wall. We could only see the bell tower at that time but the big blue sign made us think there must be a church to be found there somewhere as well.

The next sign was more confusing as it welcomed us to Yarpole Village Shop and Post Office which were both to be found inside the church. We then realised this was a special place, the centre of village life around which the community revolved.

Signs outside the main porch provided further clues to the character of this community church.

On the path that wound its way towards the church porch we took a diversion to get a close look at the belfry which was separate from the main church building. Once inside it took a while for our eyes to get used to the dark before we could appreciate the ancient woodworking skills of its builders.

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We were surprised by a little sign explaining what made the churchyard special and different from most others. The graveyard is managed by volunteers to optimise the wildlife potential. Areas of grass are left uncut for wildlife, and lichen is left to grow on gravestones and stonework. Rough areas are left for nest sites, hibernating sites and groundcover for insects and invertebrates. The area is full of wild flowers to attract bees and butterflies. Another sign nearby announced a Spring Concert

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On either side of the porch carved stone faces welcomed us in, and inside the porch modern colourful stained glass windows added warmth to that welcome.

We found the door open and the sounds of voices came to meet us. This was a lively community centre with a cafe, village shop and Post Office. From the roof hung beautiful photographic hangings. The stone pillars were built from two types of stone giving it a striped effect.

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In the gallery where the cafe opened each morning a chess group was silently enjoying their games.

Exploring the interior we found the usual furniture and features of any village church and the worship side of the church’s functions sat so comfortably alongside the community functions.This is what village churches should be like, keeping themselves open and used beyond occasional Sunday services and serving the community as they were originally meant to do. Other features however were exactly what we would expect to find in any church.

We liked the idea of the pebble pool. Each pebble dropped in the water represented a prayer.

We then had a wander around the out side of the church looking for interesting little details.

So the first two churches we had discovered on our initial exploration of the villages of Herefordshire in search of little churches serving small communities were totally different. St Michael’s at Brimfield was quite traditional and typical in the way it was used and in how the interior looked and felt. But St Leonard’s at Yarpole was a totally different kettle of fish – it was a community centre and felt full of life. It had a relaxed atmosphere with a warmth missing from so many of the churches in England.

On our first day we found one more little church in this area and we will share this with you in Part 3.

Tags church architecture, churches, community, community gardening, Herefordshire, stained glass, village community, village shop, villages

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Spring Bulbs at Bowbrook Allotment Society.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 2, 2016
3 Comments on Spring Bulbs at Bowbrook Allotment Society.

We spent a day on our plot at our allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Society, on the first day of March. It was cold and the wind strong and added extra coldness. But the sight of cheerful bulbs growing close to our plot helped cheer us up.

I hope you enjoy the photos I took with my smartphone. They are growing in the meadows under the trees in one of our orchards.

Tags Bowbrook Allotment Community, communal gardens, community, community gardening, spring blossom, spring bulbs, spring flowers

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More Awards for Bowbrook Allotment Community

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 12, 2016
5 Comments on More Awards for Bowbrook Allotment Community

There is nothing better on cold dull days of winter than looking back.

When the RHS gave us our first award we jokingly started calling ourselves an “Award Winning Allotments” and then as we get more and more we now call ourselves the “Multi-Award Winning Allotments”. Well last year in the autumn we were invited to another award ceremony jointly held by the RHS and Britain in bloom.

We enjoy these ceremonies as it affords us the opportunity to meet gardeners from other community gardens and see what they are getting up to. This year the ceremony was held in a hotel with well-laid out gardens too so we enjoyed a wander before our lunch.

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Our allotment gardens, Bowbrook Allotment Community, affectionately know as BAC, fall under the RHS Its your Neighbourhood Scheme for community gardens that improve their local areas. We are measured against a set of criteria which consider horticultural excellence, environmental enhancement, wildlife friendliness and community involvement. Assessors from the RHS make visits and spend several hours on site marking us against set guidelines. The awards are awarded at 5 levels starting with beginning at Level 1 moving up to Level 5 Outstanding. They can also give out discretionary awards to individuals and community gardeners.

We were pleased to receive a Level 5 Outstanding Certificate in 2015 for the 5th year running. We were totally surprised when we were called up at the end of the award ceremony to be be awarded an RHS National Award of Distinction, one of only two awarded. We were given this as we had achieved a mark of 100% in every category. Can’t be bad! It truly reflects our great community spirit!

I thought it would be interesting to add photos of the banners displayed in the hall as they give clues to the spirit of this award scheme.

Tags awards, Bowbrook Allotment Community, communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit

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Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part One

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 11, 2015
1 Comment on Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part One

Jude, The Undergardener, and I always love visiting community gardens to see what is going on. As we are Chairman and Secretary of a community garden, Bowbrook Allotment Community, we always appreciate everything our fellow community gardeners are achieving.

When in Hampshire we discovered that we were close to Furzey Gardens, run as a charitable trust and a very special community garden indeed, described as “A haven of peace and tranquility in the heart of the New Forest.”

We discovered this 10 acre garden created within woodland around a 16th Century forest cottage. It is a partnership between Furzey Gardens and the Minstead Training Trust. To find out more check out their respective websites, http://www.furzey-gardens.org and http://www.minsteadtt.org .

We arrived at their car park where our progress into the car park was hindered by wandering pigs belonging to local commoners taking advantage of their “rights of pannage”. The signage looked promising. We soon came across a photograph of some of the garden’s volunteers and a shed where produce was sold.

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And once inside we discovered a lovely cafe and gallery run by some of the trust’s volunteers. This was to set the scene for the whole visit.

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The views from the table at which we enjoyed our coffee and cakes were certainly very encouraging. We set off with high expectations!

We noticed within the outside seating area this huge table carved by a local wood sculptor from the trunk of a tree. It was hard to see how this was possible. But possible it was! In the picnic area we found another!

We found more beautiful hand made furniture throughout the gardens.

We soon discovered that this was a garden sporting some beautiful specimen trees and shrubs which in early autumn were performing a colourful show. The volunteers maintained the gardens and individual specimens to a very high standard. Above all a sense of peace pervaded every space and the volunteers we saw working looked full of contentment and displayed a great pride in their work.

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We loved this sign which faced us as we followed our pathway through the garden.

“We love children but we also love plants!

Many of the plants at Furzey are old, rare and fragile.

So please don’t climb our trees or trample on the flowers.

Feel free to hop and skip along the paths

And follow the secret places map.”

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We moved on and the low autumn sunshine lit up the foliage all around like a massive stained glass window.

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We enjoyed having so much choice when it came to sitting resting and taking in the beauty of Furzey. Many benches were memorials of volunteers, clients and visitors who simply enjoyed the special nature of this place.

After a break for tea and yet more cake we set off through the shrubs and trees to find the lake, a lake whose surface was cluttered with water lily leaves and its moist margins decorated by big-leaved plants and umbel seed heads.

Throughout the walkways there were secret places for children to discover, “Fairy Houses” hidden low down and camouflaged.

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We shall find more of these little magic places in part two of our visit to Furzey, but I shall finish this first part by sharing with you one of the many thatched rustic garden buildings scattered throughout the gardens. The use of coloured glass leaves added magical light effects.

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Tags communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit, Furzey Gardens, garden sculpture, garden seating, Hampshire

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New Toys for our Allotment Site

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 4, 2015
1 Comment on New Toys for our Allotment Site

It is always exciting to get new equipment for our community allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community (BAC), but when we get three close together, two of which are real boys’ (and girls’) toys then it really is extra exciting. You will notice as this post moves forward that the girls mix it with the boys at BAC however tough the tasks.

Our first new toy, or should I say piece of equipment, was an attachment for our Ryobi strimmers which allows us to prune thick branches, a bit like a mini-chainsaw. The second was a mighty petrol-driven chipper/shredder, and the third a pair of wooden raised vegetable trugs. Jude and I give talks to garden groups and together with other committee members provide “Walk and Talk” sessions for groups at the allotment. With the fees we charge we manage to buy extras for the site. Using some of this money together with a generous grant from our local town councillor we were able to acquire these helpful machines.

We were so excited when the huge box arrived with our big red toy inside. Michael soon got to work breaking the box open.

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We quickly set about deciphering the instructions and putting all the extra bits and pieces together.

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Once all put together and filled with fuel we wheeled the red chipper all the way up the big grass path to the mature trees around our picnic area, where a mighty big pile of prunings awaited chipping. We had produced the pile of prunings when we used our other toy, the Ryobi pruning attachment.

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We have a policy at Bowbrook Allotment Community of following the 3-Rs, reuse, reduce and recycle. A key element of this is keeping as much green waste as possible on site where we can use it again. Thus all the cut branches from tree work and shrub pruning are now going into our new shredder.

Jude the Undergardener piled the shreddings into a wheelbarrow and wheeled them off to the Winter Garden where they gave us a fresh soft pathway.

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Our 3-Rs policy also meant that we recycled the cardboard from the box that the big red chipper arrived in. Sherlie tore it all up into pieces and mixed it with grass cuttings and this will produce quality compost for using as a mulch on our communal borders.

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Earlier on while Mike, Pete and I were unpacking and putting the new chipper together Jude and Sherlie got out the tools and put together our two new wooden raised trugs.

Quite soon after the big red chipper was rolled out again as we began our hedge cutting season.We chose an extremely wet and windy day but everyone had lots of fun fortified throughout by soup and cake provided by the committee and served up by our tea committee, “The Tea Bags”.

To discover more about BAC please check out our website http://www.bowbrookallotments.co.uk

Tags Bowbrook Allotment Community, communal gardens, community gardening, community spirit

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Celebrating Autumn at the Allotment

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 11, 2015
2 Comments on Celebrating Autumn at the Allotment

As many of you will already know we celebrate every season at our allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community, so recently it was the turn of Autumn which we linked with Halloween. We want to make children aware of the seasons, how each is different, how they are part of a cycle and we want to emphasize seasonality. This is easy on an allotment site where we harvest fresh fruit and veg all year round . It is also the time of year when we cut our wildflower meadows. This is a job done by families or small groups and once they are cut it takes a while to get used to their short hair cuts. We are sowing the semi-parasitic wildflower, Yellow Rattle, in some of our meadows. This useful little plant is an attractive yellow flowered native plant which parasitises on the roots of the tougher species of grasses which means there is less competition for our wild flowers.

At our Autumn Celebration we invited members to take part in a competition to decorate their sheds following the theme of Halloween. Our judge enjoyed the experience even though it was a long job.

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One couple and their daughter decorated their plot and spread the ghosts across into the nearby tree. It looked great!

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Our tea committee were in attendance providing hot drinks and cakes. They even decorated their tea shop. One of the committee, Tracy, made toffee apples using apples from our community orchards. These proved most popular. Once it got dark we lit the barbeque and we all cooked our food on it We also lit our fire pits so we had the inviting aromas of wood smoke and BBQ cooking.

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This year we decided to invite everyone, children and adults to dress up in appropriate gear. Jude and I joined in as a witch and Dracula which upset some of the youngest children who didn’t like us looking like that. The first picture below shows us in our costumes.

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We held a competition for carved pumpkin lanterns and both children and adults took part. Liz, a committee member, organised fun games for the youngsters, which as always were very popular and played with the sound of laughter.

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When Darkness fell we lit the lamps, lit the candles in the pumpkin lanterns and took off for a walk around the site with the lit pumpkin lanterns to show the way. The children loved walking in the dark with their lanterns and visiting all the spooky sheds lit up. Some adults stayed to enjoy coffees around the fire pits.

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And a great time was had by all! Lots of members during the evening asked when our next celebration was. It will be our Winter/Christmas Celebrations. That will be a future post.

Tags autumn, Bowbrook Allotment Community, celebrations, comm, communal gardens, community, community gardening, garden sheds, Halloween, sheds

allotments community gardening Shrewsbury

Allotments on Show

This summer we were contacted by the organisers of the Shrewsbury Flower Show to see if we could put on a display about the work our allotment community does with children. There is a marquee at the show called the Futures Marquee and we were allocated some space in this marquee to illustrate how we work with the youngsters at Bowbrook Allotment Community to encourage them to become the gardeners of the future, the wildlife lovers of the future and ultimately the wildlife gardeners of the future.

But to give a full picture we need to go back a few days to a wet morning on the allotments when we met with some families and committee members to put together some insect hotels and wildlife shelters and pot on some tree seedlings the youngsters had sown 2 years ago. The pots we were using had also been painted by the youngsters. We had great fun! And dirty hands!

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We had a message from the show organisers informing us that our tables and screens were all up ready for us to be creative and put up our display, so imagine our despair when we walked in the marquee to find nothing in place and a huge dividing wall cutting through our space. We had a pile of tables and some some broken and the others the wrong size!

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So we set to work getting help from the marquee erectors and a very helpful steward. We found enough screens, we put up our tables and even got the dividing screen moved.

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Once we had sorted the problems out we could at last get creative. We arranged our 3 trestle tables and display screens in the design we wanted and unloaded the vehicles. There looked so much to do! We covered the table tops with black paper to give a uniform look …….

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….. and started pulling it all together.

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Frequent coffee breaks were essential!

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On the back side of the long run of screens we created a photographic journey around our Interest Trail.

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After a few very busy hours it all came together and we were pretty pleased with it. Our display illustrated how we encourage the children of Bowbrook Allotment Community to engage with wildlife and to discover the joys of gardening. It showed how we help develop the gardeners of the future, and ultimately the wildlife gardeners of the future.

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We featured mini-meadows our youngsters had grown in terra-cotta pots and insect shelters and hotels they had made.

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We left the show site to return 3 days later to meet the public and talk about our work with children at our allotments. This is the display as we arrived ready for the show.

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Day one was extremely wet so quiet at the show but day two was brighter and busy all day. We went home with sore throats and aching legs.

Tags allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community, children in gardening, communal gardens, community gardening, Shrewsbury

allotments community gardening National Garden Scheme NGS Yellow Book Gardens

Our Allotment Open Day

The highlight of our allotment year is our open day. This is the fifth year in a row that we have opened Bowbrook Allotment Community under the auspices of the National Gardens Scheme as one of the lucky gardens appearing in their famous Yellow Book. We enjoy letting anyone who wishes to visit our community gardens come to see what we get up to.

The day began at 8:30 am when some of our young families toured our wildlife areas with members of the Shropshire Wildlife Trust and the Shropshire Mammal Society who had set live mammal traps the evening before. We periodically link with the trust to discover aspects of the biodiversity of the site. This gives our young members the special experience of seeing close up the mammals living on site and the trust members help them use charts to identify the creatures trapped. The children had the chance to see some or our birdlife too, and at times wander off to enjoy their own special places.

We then started sorting out everything we needed ready to open up the site to our visitors at 2:00. We gathered together all the plants we had ready to sell on our plant stall.

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“The Tea Bags” our refreshments sub-committee, began putting together their tea shop with the help of many volunteers. Gazebos had to be erected, tables and chairs arranged and all the cups, saucers and other paraphanalia needed sorted and organised. All day from 8:30 onwards our members delivered home made cakes and biscuits.

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A gazebo had to be positioned to create our ticket sales and info area. Jill and Geoff manned this area while we were open greeting all our visitors and giving our information sheets, quiz sheets, trail guides and the important competition voting slips. The photographs entered by our members into the photo competition were pinned to a board ready to be voted on by our guests during the afternoon.

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Every year our guests are asked to judge various competitions including our scarecrow competition. This year our theme was “Heroes and Villains” and here are a few for you to enjoy.

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Our competition this year for children was “Making A Miniature Garden in a Yogurt Pot”.

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We also invite our guests to vote for their favourite photographs in the selection entered by members.

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We invite local conservation groups to come along too to show our visitors all about their work, and this year the Shropshire Mammal Society, the Shropshire Wildlife Trust and the Shropshire Beekeepers Society all joined in.

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Our Tea Bags tea shop soon got busy and by the end of the day the Tea Bags had served hundreds of cups of tea or coffee along with a wonderful choice of home made cakes baked by our members.

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Close by a local Ukele Band entertained our guests as they enjoyed their refreshments.

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One little lad was mesmerised by their magical sounds. He turned his back on all other distractions and sat down to listen.

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Lots of our members work on their plots or sit close by their plots to greet our visitors, answer queries and share their secrets of growing good crops. Even our younger members are proud to show their produce to our visitors.

After the last of our visitors left and the site grows quiet once again the task of returning the allotments back to its usual character quickly began. The Tea Bag tea shop soon disappeared as helpers put away their cups and saucers, tea urn and generator and tables and chairs.

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And the winner of the scarecrow competition was Robin Hood made by Pete and Sherlie!

After a busy morning setting up, a busy time looking after our guests and then a busy time returning everything to normal the site finally became quiet, we locked the gate and wearily made our ways home. When we took stock of the day we were delighted to discover we had been host to 355 visitors and sent nearly £1700 to the National Garden Scheme and their wonderful charities.