Wollaton Walled Garden, originally built in the second half of the 18th century, had fallen into a sad and overgrown state, its walls beginning to crumble. Thanks to the Friends of Wollaton Park volunteers they’re now being repaired, and flower and vegetable beds are singing with life once more. Having just become the first group recipients of a Nottingham Award, we had to go and check out all their hard work…
Gliding along on one of the new electric number 30 buses to today’s destination with a motley set of locals and students, we cross the road works on Maid Marian Way’s junction. The changes, intended to ease traffic and create more pedestrian friendly and green space, are causing consternation. I reflect that at least some of the changes occuring in our city are more agreeable - the volunteer-led transformation of Wollaton Walled Garden which I’m about to see is definitely one of them.
Entering the northerly entrance to Wollaton Park where Mr Man’s Cantonese Restaurant has stood since 1987, I’m greeted by stalls of fresh produce and a throng of volunteers. A few of the longest serving soon find me, and after a brief tour of the historic gardeners’ cottage which has become their makeshift museum and base, we wander around the incredible walled garden itself…
Helen Mitchem has been active in the Friends of Wollaton Park group that looks after this space since it began, and is now its Chair. She moved to Nottingham in 2013 and, seeking local connections and conservation activities, spotted an advert for the then-fledgling group in a local magazine. “I’m still here, and these guys are some of the best friends I've got in the area,” Helen enthuses. “You had your wedding on the park - that’s how deeply you’re in,” adds Kevin - who we’ll meet in a moment - sharing a laugh.
Andy Jackson has been volunteering here since 2017, but has long cared for the site. “When I was in my twenties the council moved (their Parks office) to Woodthorpe Grange, and I can remember writing a letter saying, ‘you must not close this place down’... I got married, had kids, and then all of a sudden, I'm 66, and I saw this opportunity in repairing the garden walls here. We were cleaning up old bricks at first, because apparently each brick would cost something like twenty quid to make again. Once we’d finished that, volunteers kept turning up and we thought, well, we just can't walk away”.
Andy talks me through the four acre site. “The right hand side (a large lawn) is used as an events area - there’s an archery club, and school camps in the summer. On our side we’re growing on two acres. We started with a veggie patch, and then the heritage garden, and now the sensory garden”.
Kevin Beswick, a previous Chair of the group, says that it was Wollaton resident Steve Battlemuch’s initiative, stemming from his campaign to become a councillor. Once elected, Cllr Battlemuch held a keenly-attended meeting and found a small amount of council money to get them started. Kevin explains that the group is now self-sustaining, and have put “over 41,000 hours” into the grounds. Their volunteers are not short of kit, and a well-stocked tea and biscuits station speaks to a solid operation. Three of the group’s own history books are on offer. I buy them all.
“It's nice to see the beds and everything, but it’s the community of people that’s important”, Kevin says. “We have young people with learning needs come down from Portland College and they use it as an outdoor workspace. We have Duke of Edinburgh volunteers, there’s a young woman on an internship, we have businesses volunteering. It’s a big community here and we’re providing those opportunities”.
“There was a turning point,” Kevin continues. “Lodge one was completely overgrown, and we kept asking ‘can we cut it back?’. We were told no, it's too unsafe, but then a new manager took over, Rachel James, and she said yes. So one morning, seventeen of us turned up and cleared this space, and I think it opened their eyes to the power of volunteers, who can deliver improvements above and beyond what paid staff can do. We don't ever want to take over anybody's job, but we can provide a pressure group and also the council realise they can trust us.”
I’ve always liked gardening. My wife died, and this is where I came - it saved my life, really. This was heaven, I love it
Kevin sees this as a solution to the ever-shrinking public purse. “When policing, child safety and old people's homes are part of their remit, there's no way public spaces like parks can be 100% council employees, so volunteers have a place. Friends groups can be anywhere, a little patch of ground, a little wood”. He encourages Wollaton generating income through commercial activities - like Splendour - to support paying staff to manage this and other vital parks around the city, rather than the cost falling on local families using play areas.
“Everyone sees the benefits of volunteering,” Helen adds. “For the good of the biodiversity, growing your own food, connectivity, reducing social isolation, all those things, and we come here because we're passionate about it and we want to. But I think the council are benefiting massively from our work and the positivity it brings. Even with perfect finances the council probably couldn’t afford to pay all these volunteers, and the things that have progressed here have happened through them.”
Helen’s horticultural ambitions for the garden are “to manage to grow a pineapple, as that was a prime example of what this Walled Garden produced back in the day. One was presented here to King Charles II, grown within these coal-fired, heated cavity walls and the greenhouses. Maybe we can present one to King Charles III in the future,” she mentions.
Bruce Henry is the last volunteer I speak with. He says that at the beginning, “it was terrible, everywhere was ivy, an awful mess... we dug all these beds,” he gestures, with a proud glint in his eye. “I’ve always liked gardening. My wife died, and this is where I came - it saved my life, really. This was heaven, I love it. I’ve met some nice people, the environment’s nice, and you can see all the work we’ve done.”
Our need for care, connection and community stands strong, like the walls around the park’s perimeter. What’s been achieved in this stunning Walled Garden is down to the Friends of Wollaton Park volunteers' passion and hard work, but councillors and council officers played a key role. They gave their trust, created a space for locals, and shared agency of this vast local asset. It’s an old thing, commoners commoning this once-common land.
Friends of Wollaton Park, in their own enterprising ways, have created a sustainable and growing effort to grow not just food here, but community itself. They don't seek out any accolades, but simply want to make Wollaton Park a “better place for all”, as their well put-together website states. Award-winners don't come any worthier than that.
Learn more about the group’s work at friendsofwollatonpark.org.uk
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