Community garden - new outdoor kitchen and shelter

We are an inclusive, welcoming and friendly community garden, just off Gloucester Road in Bristol.  We are fundraising to build a new shelter and outdoor kitchen, so that there is enough space for all our volunteers and community groups to take shelter and do more cooking, whatever the weather!

In 2011 we took on a large patch of boggy and unused ground at the bottom of the allotment site at the end of Monk Road.  Since then, numerous volunteers have come along and helped transform the site into a beautiful, productive and wheelchair-accessible community garden, enjoyed by hundreds of people each year.

Our garden is bustling and busy and we have outgrown our current shelter, built back in 2012. One volunteer said “[Our shelter’s] not big enough! It’s just too small! I can feel cramped and overwhelmed and I always feel like I’m tripping over people when I come in”.

Rooted in the community, each Wednesday, 20-30 volunteers (from all walks of life and of all abilities) come along to our popular, open access drop-in volunteering days.

Our break-times are just as important to us as the gardening; at lunchtime we come together to sit in a circle and share a meal. Using vegetables from the garden, we prepare and eat hot soup every week throughout winter and enjoy salads and sandwiches in summer. The friendships built at the garden, the camaraderie and the supportive atmosphere are all fostered in our circle when we gather round to drink tea, share food and chat, laugh, moan, share stories and connect.  Being all together, eating the food we have grown together, always lifts people’s spirits.  

We have outgrown our current shelter which can only fit in about fourteen people and it’s a squeeze! This means we can’t all sit together, have shade for everyone on the hot days or good shelter from the rain on the wet days.  We plan to build a shelter which will have enough space to fit everybody and need your help to do it!

During term time:

• 30+ families with pre-school children join our green toddler groups
• we run three exciting after-school clubs
• we host school, nursery and community group visits

In the school holidays we run:

• in-demand holiday clubs
• adventure days for families with children with special educational needs and disabilities

We also host family friendly community events events for up to 700 people such as:

• our renowned Spring and Autumn fairs
• a cracking bonfire night
• Christmas wreath making with all natural materials

and

• coordinate supplies of surplus veg from the allotments to be donated to Family Food Action.

Our existing set up!

Currently we cook on a two-hob gas stove in one corner of a polytunnel. It’s an ongoing struggle to try to keep everything hygienic because it’s not close to a tap with the clean running water we need for handwashing, washing veg, cooking, washing up and cleaning; instead of having to trek to a different part of the site to access a tap, the new shelter would have a plumbed in sink.

The new shelter and kitchen will be used by all our children and community groups. It’s magic to pick food from the garden and cook it straight away, and the kids love it!  On our family adventure days for families with children with SEND, we prepare food together for up to 45. The children harvest vegetables from the garden and help as chefs.  However, on sunny summer days the polytunnel is swelteringly hot and just not usable, while on rainy days it can be very loud and overwhelming for children with special educational needs, or anyone!  The new kitchen would be much more user-friendly for all our groups and, with your help, we can make this vision a reality!

Our Plan

With your donations, we will be able to build a level access wooden structure with 2 open sides that we can close up in winter. In order to do more cooking with groups in the garden, we'll be plumbing in a sink from a nearby pipe and fitting out the kitchen.

Another benefit is that our current shelter will be converted into a potting shed, which means that we'll have much needed, extra shaded space for gardening on hot days and shelter from the rain when it’s pouring down.

The volunteers say:

• ‘A nice big clean dry space that we can all fit into will be more inclusive… and will just help the garden run better.’
• ‘It would be great to have a tap here.  It’s a nightmare cooking and staying clean without one!’
• 'It's going to be easier for people who can't walk very far.'

The costs

We need your help to raise the final £6,000 to get this project off the ground! We are fundraising specifically for help with the costs of the necessary groundworks before the new kitchen and shelter can be installed; this includes putting in drainage, plumbing in the sink and fitting out the kitchen.  

We already have the money for the cost of the new kitchen and shelter because the National Lottery have awarded us a £20,000 grant after a successful bid. The fabulous folks at The John James Foundation will match fund any money we raise up to £10,000. We have already raised £4,000 through our social enterprises and events so now we need your help to raise the last £6000 - then we can crack on and start building! Any contributions are gratefully received; every pound you give will be doubled by John James AND you can get your hands on some fab rewards!!

Please DONATE IF YOU CAN or JUST SPREAD THE WORD.

Our garden

There's more info on the garden on our website www.thegoldenhillcommunitygarden.com

and here's a lovely article in the Guardian about us and community gardens in general:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/21/revolutionary-in-a-quiet-way-golden-hills-community-garden-in-bristol

Rewards

Here's a look at the T-shirts!  Designed by fabulous friend of the garden Garlic Tony.  The adult ones are sized quite big, so please bear that in mind or check  the size chart below

The tote bags are plain weave natural raw 100% organic cotton 42cmx32cm and the same design as  the same t-shirts.

The postcards are one of the hardworking potato, one of the happy carrot and one of the whole design.

The photo-cards are limited editions of photographs taken by talented local photographer, Gabbie Cowie.

Christmas wreaths - here's a photo of some happy folks with their gorgeous wreaths after a workshop:

Our stunning garden flowers

 Thanks for your support!