Sustainable Development Fund:
National Trust Flatford - Valley Farm Kitchen Garden
Photo credit: National Trust / Trevor Ray Hart
The Dedham Vale National Landscape is funded by The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and local authorities to deliver the purposes of the National Landscape designation.
The Sustainable Development Fund (SDF) is available to a variety of local community and conservation organisations or individuals to support projects for the conservation and enhancement of the National Landscape.
For the 2021-22 funding year, National Trust Flatford have been awarded £2,210 for their Valley Farm Kitchen Garden - Grow it Wild Children’s Project.
The aim of the project is to engage with local primary schools, enabling children to participate in gardening sessions at Valley Farm Kitchen Garden. The main objective is to utilise food growing to teach children about soil, nutrition, science, and life cycles.
The sessions would also link to the wider landscape National Landscape and conserving its wildlife and increasing biodiversity through planting wildflowers and encouraging pollinators.
It is hoped the sessions will connect children with nature and wildlife, whilst building the confidence and knowledge to grow seasonal vegetables, fruits, and wildflowers, working with the seasons and using the weather station to start to monitor weather conditions. This activity will encourage discussion on climate change and how changing weather patterns impact both cultivated and wild plants.
The funding from the Sustainable Development Fund will be used to replace a dilapidated shed in the kitchen garden to include a water butt, solar panel, and weather station. The shed will be used as the hub for local school children to join the kitchen garden team for sessions to grow their own produce and learn about the natural landscape and its wildlife. The garden will also host workshops for the local community to join and learn new skills.
Photo credit: National Trust / Jemma Finch
Photo credit: National Trust / Sarah Barfoot
Sarah Barfoot, Experience & Programme Manager, Essex & Suffolk Countryside for the National Trust said: “It’s great to have support from the Sustainable Development Fund to help us replace a dilapidated shed in the kitchen garden to include a water butt, solar panel and weather station.
The new shed will also become a hub for local school children to join the kitchen garden team and grow their own produce, as well as learning about the natural landscape and its wildlife. We also hope to host workshops in the garden where the local community can come along, join in and maybe learn a few skills or share top tips of their own!”
Paul Andrae, Volunteer Programme Manager, Essex & Suffolk Countryside said: “For the first time, we welcomed the Rector of St Mary’s Church in East Bergholt – Rev Stephne Van Doorn, her husband and her guide dog Coco, to Valley Farm Kitchen Garden.
With John, our volunteer Garden Co-ordinator, and volunteer gardeners Christine, June, Natalie & Suzanne, we enjoyed chatting to them about the history and development of the Garden and John kindly gave them a guided tour.
They were very impressed and Stephne is very keen to work with us as requested in the SDF grant conditions. She will be sending us her ideas as soon as
possible. A joint Harvest Festival ‘celebration’ could be an early priority. Coco proved very popular with everyone !!”