FARNCOMBE COMMUNITY GARDEN

Our vision

Farncombe Community Garden is an ambitious project which aims to bring the local community together in the creation of a vibrant, beautiful, productive and wildlife-friendly garden. It will be inclusive to all, seeking to share the health benefits of the outdoors, connecting people more closely to the natural world on our doorstep.

We are a charity that aims to:

• Be a catalyst for positive change locally & beyond
• Inspire connections with self, neighbours, food & nature
• To promote social cohesion
• Enhance overall health and wellbeing through gardening and being outdoors
• Promote volunteering

We are hoping to work with local services, schools, care homes and GPs to provide a facility that can enhance the life of local people.

Why are we doing it?

The Farncombe Community Garden project was conceived by local GPs at Binscombe Medical Centre in 2017, inspired by the idea of social prescribing as a way of improving people’s health and wellbeing, which is now well established and supported by research.

We are crowd funding to establish a working community garden within Farncombe for all the local residents to benefit from. Whether it is through taking up gardening for the first time to aid recovery from a physical or mental health problem, finding purpose by volunteering, enjoying passing on a passion for gardening to others, or in education. People of all ages will be encouraged to learn about horticulture and the importance of encouraging and supporting wildlife in an urban environment.

Simply being outdoors in a green space is good for our physical and mental health; to venture outdoors with the added purpose of joining others to garden together brings significant benefit, including social cohesion, the joy of learning and sharing knowledge, and an opportunity to bring hope and happiness to those who are lonely.  

The story so far...

Through Surrey County Council, we are securing a fantastic site near Broadwater Lodge Care Home and Broadwater Secondary School. Presently, it is a grassy field, but we have plans to transform the space with a pond, orchard, fire pit, vegetable beds, woodland trail, sensory garden, picnic areas and more! 

We have a core team of volunteers who have been meeting over the last 2 years to get the garden up and running. We also have over 100 people who are signed up as volunteers to help us once we are operational. 

We have been working with various organisations to help us prepare the site, and have been developing links with local services to help us plan the garden so that it will be accessible to all. 

Once up and running, the Farncombe Community Garden will host an exciting range of engaging activities in the garden and creative workshops for the whole community.

We hope to open the garden to the public next Spring.

Please help us to bring to life this fantastic and much needed project.

Thank you from everyone at Farncombe Community Garden!