Community
The Therapeutic Garden
A peaceful retreat in the churchyard, open to all. It was established to promote mental well-being through gardening, and it is kept going entirely by volunteers.
St Mary’s Therapeutic Garden was established in 2017 by the Ladywell Unit and St Mary’s Church, to promote mental well-being through gardening. It has perennial beds, wildflower meadows, an orchard and raised vegetable beds.
You are welcome to visit any day, simply to sit and enjoy the quiet. You do not need to be a gardener, or a churchgoer, and nobody will ask you why you have come.
Joining a session
The next few sessions
- Tuesday 8 September13:30 to 14:30Theraputic Gardening
- Tuesday 15 September13:30 to 14:30Theraputic Gardening
- Saturday 19 September10:30 to 12:30Community Gardening
- Tuesday 22 September13:30 to 14:30Theraputic Gardening
Taken from the parish diary. If something looks wrong, tell the parish office.
Come for the whole session or for half an hour. No experience and no tools needed — everything is provided, and there is always something to do at any level of energy or ability. You are very welcome to come once and see how you get on before deciding anything.
Put your name down here, or simply turn up. If you would rather ask something first, email the parish office.
The church itself is often open while the gardeners are working. The home page shows the hours the building is open today.
Who has paid for it
Grants from the National Lottery, Tesco Groundworks, Aviva and CIS Securities have paid for equipment, water butts, and the renewal of every path in the churchyard — which has made a real difference to how safely people can move around it.
Elsewhere on the site
The garden sits in a churchyard with eleven hundred years of burials in it. There is more on the history and heritage pages, and on the rest of the parish’s work in the community.