One of the joys of Guildford Walkfest is the opportunity to discover and visit places that you didn’t know about. Amongst the new additions this year has been the Rosamund Community Garden near Pewley Down. The site is off Longdown Road and it's also a short walk from Chantry Woods and North Downs Way.
Described on their website as “a quiet paradise nestled between orchards, wildflower meadows, and woodland on the outskirts of Guildford” this is a 19 acre site of which about one acre is used to grow a variety of vegetables, herbs, fruit, and flowers. The balance of the site is composed of fields which were formerly used for growing wheat but are now being brought back to meadowland – with a far richer mixture of plant species.
We visited on a beautifully sunny autumn day to learn more about the garden and to walk the meadows. Whilst the community garden (it’s very different from an allotment!) may only be small, there was so much to see and learn about. Possibly the most obvious feature is the large number of fruit trees - loaded with apples when we visited.
At first glance it looks unkept – but then one learns that they practice no-dig methods, use green manures to maintain the soil integrity and try to work in harmony with nature. Across the site they have polytunnels for year-round food crops, a large fruit cage and a number of raised beds.
This is intentionally a ‘low tech’ site. Very little is done mechanically and they have a ‘hands-on’ approach to construction. Their rather sophisticated privy is both practical and, for their level of usage, very environmentally friendly. However, their pride and joy is The Hub. This is their covered structure, made by using wattle & daub and traditional cobbing, which will be used as a shelter, meeting place, classroom and venue. Whilst still a work in progress, it is clearly a labour of love.
For such a relatively small area, it took us a long time to see everything and to learn about the groups approach to environmentally friendly gardening.
We then left the garden and headed out into the adjacent, north facing, fields. Working in partnership with Buglife, Surrey Wildlife Trust and various other partners, the group are slowly returning these areas to a rich meadowland habitat. The results are already apparent. We discovered a wide range of grasses and meadow plants such as kidney vetch – important for the rare Small Blue Butterfly. Work is also being done to remove hawthorn and other small trees which have spread across the area since farming ceased.
Once we had returned to the garden, we were treated to refreshments made by the group. As always, food seems to be a popular addition to Walkfest events!
If you get the chance, why not drop in and learn more about the work of this group. If you are free, they have an “Apple Pressing Day” on Sunday 22nd September. More details can be found on their website www.guildfordcommunitygarden.org.uk
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