Barnstaple garden wins top Britain in Bloom award

Myself and our team of volunteers at Heppenstall Community Garden in Barnstaple are delighted to have recently been awarded the highest honour in our category at the Britain in Bloom awards.

The garden achieved Level 5 Outstanding in the Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘It’s your Neighbourhood’ category and we are thrilled and proud at receiving this wonderful recognition.

We were encouraged to enter the competition by Barnstaple in Bloom’s Frances Bell and we are so grateful for her advice and support. I was lucky to travel up to Bath with Frances for the prestigious awards ceremony and when we received the news along with our certificate, I was incredibly emotional.

We’ve come a long way from the unkempt and unused land that North Devon Homes kindly donated to us 14 years ago. Through our team of wonderful volunteers, with support from North Devon Homes, we have nurtured the space to create a thriving garden with 13 raised beds and a small orchard, where we grow fruit and vegetables for the local community.

Earlier in the year, we had a visit from one of the judges from the RHS and it was a real honour to show her around the garden, highlighting all the work we have achieved, what we are working on and our plans for the future. 

We showed her the vast variety of fruit and vegetables we are growing and she was especially pleased to hear how we offer the produce to the community for a small donation and run a fair share scheme so that our volunteers who work in the garden are rewarded with the produce.

In her judging she was impressed with our sustainability in collecting rainwater and how we compost everything on site. She was also happy to hear about how ecofriendly we are with our low carbon footprint and commitment to being as organic as possible. In her final judging report, she described the garden as ‘an oasis of peace and quiet’ and an example for other communities wanting to set up a similar project.

We are incredibly humbled by this experience and what we have achieved here at our special garden.  It really is a community project and we love seeing the garden being used and being loved by local residents.

Our next steps for the garden are to encourage more volunteers to get involved. We would love to create a wildlife area in the garden and a space for animals to hibernate. We are also looking at making our own compost and more inventive ways to collect rainwater. Whilst we are the only community garden in Barnstaple, would love to link up with other community groups and gardens in the wider area to share knowledge, experiences and advice.

We would also love to see more people using the garden as we think it is a perfect place for local community groups to use and experience growing fruit and vegetables. We welcome local groups getting involved, such as local scouts and Girlguiding units, forest schools, dementia groups and those seeking tranquillity and calm amongst nature.

We encourage those groups to get in contact with us and come down to see the garden for themselves.

If you are a community group and would like to visit our garden, please telephone us on 01271 312500 or email
customercare@ndh-ltd.co.uk