Workshops

Gardens

Growing fruit, vegetables and herbs the organic way, for our café, bakery and homes.

About the workshop

Growing, the Organic Way

The garden workshop gives people the chance to learn how to plant, grow and care for plants and harvest fruit and vegetables. We have a mature orchard of soft fruit and fruit trees, and productive polytunnels for most of the year, where we grow soft green leaves, herbs and salad, and raise seedlings.

We follow organic and biodynamic methods without chemicals. Many raised beds were made with the “lasagne” method from old cardboard and woodchips, and participants and staff built a herb garden and compost containers from reclaimed materials. Our produce is used in the café and bakery and enjoyed in our houses; we make jam from the soft fruit, and our apples are juiced and sold to support the workshop.

Carrying seedlings in the polytunnel
The orchard in blossom
The garden team building a brick path
Through the seasons

What Happens in the Gardens

Planting and Growing

Propagating, pricking out and raising seedlings, weeding and planting.

Harvest and Produce

Harvesting and storing, jam from the soft fruit and juice from our apples.

Caring for the Site

Looking after the green spaces across our site and our edible forest.

Volunteer

Lend a Hand in the Gardens

We are developing a brand-new garden in our Round House Paddock and welcome corporate volunteers to help with bigger projects, from building new beds to vegetation management.

Gallery

Inside the Gardens

Garden team in the flax field
Freshly pulled flax
Harvesting flax in the garden
Harvesting squash
Sitting together by the polytunnel
Harvesting flax by hand
Day opportunities

Interested in a Day Placement?

Our workshops are open Monday to Friday, on a paid placement basis, for participants: the people who live with us, and people with learning disabilities and autism from the wider community. Call 01908 235000 or email [email protected] to talk it through.