Workshops & co-design meeting

Myself and Denise had a fantastic meeting on Friday 16th February. Denise is a community activist and a vocal proponent of Community Assemblies, local democracy and climate justice, and it’s fantastic that she’s onboard with the Hope Garden.

Ffynnone Resilience

We‘re in the midst of applying for the Local Places for Nature Capital Fund for the prototype Hope Garden. The deadline is 12th March! The proposed site for the prototype Hope Garden is adjacent to the Pen Y Foidr allotments, which is a Ffynnone Resilience project. Tess at the project has asked me to write a guest blog post, so here goes.

Site visit, site done

Well, I have just about finished the basic functionality of the website, meaning blog posts can be written using a web browser rather than a too-technical text editor.

Recycled plastic is still plastic

In the WhatsApp group, concern over using recycled plastic benches for prototype garden, not fitting into ethics. Totally agree, I was just thinking about price. Plastic benches about £140. David Hunter (artisan roundwood craftsperson) can do them for equivalent price, in wood, slab, Larch:

Prototype costings

• Design £5,000
• Paths £3,000
• Fencing £1,500
• Structures £1,000
• Assembly tent £2,500
• Benches x16 @£125 = £2,000
• Plants £2,000
• Soft landscaping £3,000

Total: £20,000

Yr Ardd visit

• Visited Andrea at Yr Ardd, as possible garden
• Liz from Yr Ardd (administrator) was there, plus Martin(?) from Tir Coed and Malcolm Berry, The Dreaded Gardener
• Possibly interested in amphitheatre area, then plants dispersed
• Also, backup plans for different stages?
• Noticeboard blackboard, what’s happening, plus feedback board, have your say until the words fill up

Prototype partners

• The People v Climate Change
• Four possible sites
  1. Naturewise Community Forest Garden, Cardigan - still waiting to hear back from Claire Turner. Ideally sited, next to the police station within walking distance of Cardigan
  2. Yr Ardd community garden, Llandysul - don’t know much about the project, think it’s in the town, I know one of the directors vaguely, strong Welsh links
  3. Meads Project, Milford Haven - early co-design stages. Bit of a trek (1 hour) for me but really interesting project using community assemblies
  4. Abergwili, Carmarthen - via Audley. Parc yr Esgob?
• Ffion Gwyn, artist using Welsh wildlife names. Appeared on Countryfile
• Public access RHS Hampton Court:

“For gardens over 80m2, walk-through access is possible and should be specified on the application form (one-way access requires a minimum path width of 1.5m; two-way access requires a minimum path width of 2m)