The Walled Garden at Ushaw

A message from Julian and Rachel:

"Julian and I are very excited to be taking up residency in the walled garden at Ushaw College. The 4.5 acre plot is currently quite overgrown but it is beautifully sheltered. We plan to renovate parts of it for growing fruit trees and flowers for Julian’s gardening business, however it is such a fantastic spot that we would like to open it up to the community too. 

We hope to schedule a programme of events and activities to enable local people to enjoy the garden as a valuable social and educational resource. Our current musings include nature crafts for children, story-telling evenings, outdoor games and activities, and perhaps even exercise classes or yoga. We also hope to introduce learning opportunities through workshops such as green woodworking, blacksmithing, willow-weaving and gardening. 

There is a lot of work to be done before we can realise this vision, however. So far, we have begun cutting back growth around the old buildings and are beginning to make plans for clearing further. We would prefer not to use chemicals, so are considering starting a pig club, as pigs are great for turning over the soil and eating the roots of weeds. We also need to create shelter for workshops and are considering a range of temporary structures that might incorporate a fire pit and a clay oven. Once we can literally see the wood from the trees we plan to organise volunteer days, and are very happy to hear from anyone wishing to help."