Community Garden
Are you interested in locally grown and affordable fruit and veg? We have access to a beautiful but derelict Walled Garden, dating back to the 1850s.
We want to restore it to its former glory and in doing so, provide fresh, affordable and healthy fruit and veg to the local community.
We need your help to achieve our vision and plans.
Click one of these handy links for ways you can get involved:
Read our Community Garden Newsletter
The history
Our Community Garden is at Carlshead Farm, where Living Potential is based. It dates back to the 1850s and part of this project is to document the history of the Walled Garden, so please do contact us (see below) if you remember the garden in operation, either as a Boys School or managed privately.
The present
Here at Living Potential, we are at capacity due to space constraints and are currently turning away referral organisations who want to work with us.
By transforming the derelict Walled Garden into a thriving Community Garden, we will be able to provide an accessible space to everyone in the community and be able to provide additional support to those in need, via our therapeutic horticulture services.
For more information about our vision and how you can get involved, please click here
How can you support us?
To make this project a success, we would like your help to shape and co-design the project.
Please help us by:
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Completing this 5 minute survey. Tell us what you think and help us to shape the project
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Spread the word to family, friends, neighbours and colleagues
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Follow us on Instagram, Facebook or sign up to receive regular news by email
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Come and volunteer with us
Please get in touch with Andy for more information:
grower.livingpotentialcarefarm@gmail.com / 07841847874
Winter Update
We are looking for volunteers to help restore the Walled Garden to its former glory. Could this be you?
There’s lots to get involved with, from the practical side (building, painting, digging, weeding, sowing seeds and lots more) to helping with admin (fundraising, social media).
We greatly value the contribution that volunteers make to our project and acknowledge that their participation in the garden dramatically increases what we can achieve. In return, we feed you lunch and supply endless tea/coffee and cake.
Our volunteer days run from 10 am - 4 pm. Feel free to join for the whole day, or just for a morning or afternoon.
If you're interested, please complete this sign up form and we’ll contact you to have an informal chat.
Progress update
A lot has happened and changed on-site! We’ve put some slides together to show you just how much has changed. We now have a compost toilet, solar power, can make a cup of tea and have somewhere warm to work from. We’ve put up fencing and gates to keep the site safe and deer/rabbit proof, and have started to repair polytunnels.
We’ve also held 3 steering group meetings and secured more funding to improve the Community Garden.
Corporate Volunteering
Looking for somewhere to have your away day or corporate volunteering day? We can help! We have a Woodland Cabin which you can hire and there is always a range of things to do on the farm. Contact us for further info.
Share the news!
We rely on word of mouth to help raise a profile for the Community Garden. It would be great if you could take a moment to share this webpage with friends, family, and colleagues - or anyone else who might be interested.
Therapeutic Horticulture in the Community Garden
We offer therapeutic horticulture in our Community Garden for groups and individuals experiencing poor mental health or who are lonely and isolated.
Currently, the sessions run on a Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 am - 3 pm, and will eventually run daily from 10 am - 3 pm. The sessions include a lunch cooked by the group. The horticulture work will involve: shaping the garden plans, preparing the land, sowing seeds, propagating, transplanting, caring for plants, picking and preparing them for sale and customer service. The site is planned as a commercial business.
Although we will not be providing specific mental health support, the work that we do will promote recovery and wellbeing through physical activity and teamwork. The 500-acre farm is an immensely peaceful, therapeutic setting. Participants will have individualised goals and we will give appropriate support or signposting as and when required. People can engage on their own terms - as much or as little as they would like. Working outdoors increases confidence and self-esteem and builds emotional and social resourcefulness as people become part of a community that works together and shares a common, tangible goal.
If Living Potential is suitable, applicants can start within a few weeks. If you have a formal Mental Health diagnosis, we will need a professional referral to support the application. Groups already formed are welcome to attend for a day out and would be welcome to attend regularly.
Our Self-referral form
Please complete a self-referral form if:
- You have mild to moderate mental health issues
-Are willing to work on recovery
-You have no significant mobility issues – this is a farm environment with risks of trips and falls for those with mobility problems
-You are not receiving support from a care coordinator in mental health services
-You do not have social care needs such as a significant learning disability
Professional Referral
Criteria for completing a Professional Referral:
Living Potential Care Farm placements in our Community Garden are suitable for people with a variety of needs and backgrounds such as mental health problems, brain injuries, autistic spectrum disorders or dementia
People can be referred to us if they are:
- 18 years or older
- Able to get around the farm safely without hurting themselves
- Able to work alongside other people or work towards this
- Keen to work outdoors
A referral is not appropriate for people:
- With severe mobility problems
- Not keen to work outdoors
- Who are not allowed to work alongside vulnerable people/young people because of past behaviour/offences committed
- Who do not have access to funding
- Whose challenging behaviour would pose a risk in a farm environment or to other people even with 1:1 support
If you have a formal Mental Health Diagnosis and meet the criteria above, we will ask a professional to complete our referral form. Our form can be downloaded by clicking the button below. Once complete, please email the form to tanya@livingpotentialcarefarming.org.uk or post it to FAO Tanya Bish, Living Potential, Carlston Hill Farm, Paddock House Lane, Sicklinghall. LS22 4BN.