News / Community gardens
Car park transformed into ‘living, growing, breathing’ space
A little used car park behind Clifton Down shopping centre is being transformed into a green space for growing food and socialising.
The concrete is being replaced by huge planter beds which will be filled by residents without gardens and those looking for extra space to grow veg.
The garden’s eventual 46 planters will be offered up to interested locals to populate the car park that organiser Merche Clark says “will be a space which is really novel for this area, which is really exciting.”
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Clifton Down Community Association is leading the way with potatoes, lettuce and chard, alongside All Saints Church who are growing herbs and flowers for their sustainable flower arranging group, in the project’s first two ‘showroom’ planters.
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“People are just are so excited to see this place, which has not been used for anything for years and years, actually being transformed into something which is living and growing, breathing,” Merche told Bristol24/7.
The group’s aim to satisfy ‘a growing a interest in food cultivation’ and meet ‘a significant demand for allotments in Bristol’ is proving popular with people in the area.
“People are very excited about growing their own food,” said Merche. “You know, even if it’s just a little bit, people feel that it’s a really strong wellbeing exercise to be involved in.”
All Saints Church have filled one of the ‘showroom’ planters with herbs and flowers to supply their sustainable flower arranging group
The garden will also provide much-needed green space in the area:
“In Clifton Down there are very few green spaces, apart from people’s gardens, but there’s no children’s play area,” Merche continued.
“There’s very little in the way of green space and a lot of people live in flats who don’t have access to any garden at all. So we’re getting quite a lot of interest from people in flats.
“There is very little space in Clifton Down for meeting – we’ve got churches, and then we’ve got the library, and in terms of council buildings or, you know, or community buildings of any sort, basically, those are the things.
“I’d like to see around 40 people actively growing their own food or flowers here while having a nice time, meeting up with other people.”
An architect member of the growing group team has produced a mock-up to help interested local residents visualise what the project could eventually look like
The car park, tucked in behind the shopping centre at the end of Alma Vale Road, is owned by Sovereign Network Group (SNG) who have supported the community plans while asking them to apply for formal planning permission – which has now been granted.
The growing group are holding an open day on Saturday. They’ll be launching a crowdfunder for materials and installation of a metered water supply as well as showing people around, sharing plans and inviting expressions of interest. There will be activities for all ages including bulb planting and seed bomb making.
The growing space will be open to visitors from 10am to 3pm. Find out more about the project at www.cliftondowngrowingspace.com
All images: Clifton Down Growing Space
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