FREE GARDENING AT BRIXHAM ADULT & COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTRE

Thanks to funding from the Learning Revolution campaign Katie Babbs invited 20 people to start gardening in a brand new garden at the Brixham Adult & Community Learning Centre which is designed to be fully accessible for everyone.

Her Create Your Own Kitchen Garden was designed to help some of the 150 people in Brixham waiting for an allotment to start mastering the basics.

Also to encourage them to help as volunteers at the Friday gardening class for disabled users who are members of ACE.

This second garden is being designed with large vegetable raised beds, a wild flower meadow, polytunnel, pergola, shrubbery, wild life areas and seating. The course started the vegetable beds off and began production in the polytunnel. It covered all you need to set up your own kitchen garden or allotment. Participants were encouraged to move onto Katie's next terms course on Growing Vegetables, Salads and Herbs.

ACE members have already created a sensory garden with raised beds and a teaching chalet, this next step fulfils their ambitions to pass on their skills to able bodied people.

Katie said “I am delighted with the demand for my free taster courses; it confirms my belief that there is a real desire from the public to grow their own vegetables and help reduce the cost of food. We will be moving on to ‘fork to fork' classes later in the year where students can discover delicious recipes to cook what they have grown.

It has taken almost 10 years to establish this garden and lots of fundraising (over £30,000) to build the dream for disabled students, but it has been worth it. This is the only truly accessible garden in the area - with tarmac and raised beds suitable for wheelchair users, people who are blind and those with other disabilities. Gardening is good for you especially if you suffer with depression as the microbes in the soil get under the fingernails and help dispel the depression.

We hope to make this a sustainable project by selling our produce and need help from able bodied volunteers to achieve our dream”

Anyone who would like to get involved can contact the Brixham Adult & Community Learning Centre on 01803 853302 or ring me at home on 01803 782173 or email me on katiebabbs@msn.com

We are holding an Open Day on May 21st where we are inviting people to come and view the garden and bring us cuttings from their garden – see attached information.