Shropshire Star

Bishop's Castle community garden project granted nearly £10,000

Bishop's Castle's allotment garden has received nearly £10,000 for a new community project.

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A muddy welly digging a fork on a private allotment vegetable garden..

The allotment gardeners' new project is in full bloom after they received a grant of £9,896 from the National Lottery Community Fund.

The group's Altogether Gardening Project aims to provide a community area where people interested in gardening can grow their skills and have a peaceful area to enjoy nature.

The money will provide a community seating and barbecue area with raised herb and sensory beds, wooden seating and two brick built barbecues covered by a pergola for climbing plants and shade.

A new large double fronted potting shed and cold frames will be also situated alongside the communal area so that allotment holders can easily sow seeds and pot on seedlings and cuttings.

The group also plans for short courses to be held so that people can learn the techniques involved in all the stages of successful seed sowing and growing on.

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Allotment group chair Sarah Dixon said: "We are thrilled with this grant from the National Lottery Community Fund.

"It will enable our willing volunteers to come together to make the allotment site a better place for gardening and for sharing gardening know-how.

"We are grateful to the Bishop's Castle Town Council for its contribution towards the improvements on the allotment site."

The allotment site also currently has a wildlife area and pond, created around nine years ago.

The group said the pond now requires a new liner, so this improvement to the wildlife area also forms part of the Altogether Gardening Project.

Special tools and equipment are also being purchased for community use as part of the project and these will be safely stored by the town council, which owns and manages the allotment site, comprising of 45 plots.

The town council is also providing a new accessible, compost toilet for the site.