Future plans

Much has been achieved over the last 10 years since becoming a registered charity, and we hope to continue to improve and develop over the coming years. Although the running costs of the nursery are met from regular income we do rely on grants and donations for all development projects.

The main project at present, which we hope to complete sometime this summer, is the development of a new ‘Vegetable Garden’. This is based loosely on the idea of a Victorian walled garden. However, walls are very expensive to build and so we are making do with a ‘hedged garden’. A hornbeam hedge has already been planted around the perimeter. The garden will be 37x30 metres. A good quality second-hand glasshouse measuring approx 15x5 metres is to be installed at the northern end. A brick extension will be built to the rear of the glasshouse to enable disabled toilet facilities and an indoor work area to be provided.

The main garden area will be split into various plots by a network of paths. Pergolas will be made to provide support for climbing plants. The plots will be used for growing fruit and vegetables, but there will also be plenty of room for flowers. The idea is to create a garden with plenty of colour and scent and structure where people will be able to enjoy growing fruit and vegetables in a relaxing, peaceful and beautiful environment. The new Vegetable garden will enable us to offer 6 more places to people who have a disability or learning difficulty.

We have raised over £20,000 towards this project, and work will be starting during April. However we still need a further £23,000 to complete the building work.

When this is complete we will move straight on to our next project which is to replace the 2 old portable buildings which presently serve as the common room. This is an altogether bigger project. We hope to be able to have a large (12mx12m) permanent timber-built building and we expect the total cost to be in the region of £100,000.