A small group of volunteers look after this community growing scheme on the side of a hill in the beautiful parish of Selsley near Stroud. We meet weekly as a group and always have a long 'to do' list which includes maintenance, clearing, preparing and planting and this spring has been busier than ever. So far [...]
Welcome to the Down to Earth Stroud newsletter for 2016. We had another very busy year with the launch of two fantastic new projects plus the growth and development of several others. Here’s a brief summary of some of our key moments and achievements from 2016. Please see our website for more details and photos and [...]
We have been a-wassailing! The inaugural Vale wassail was held on Sunday 19th February 2017 attended by around 30 locals including the Mayor of Dursley, Cllr Neil Grecian at the allotments and orchard we installed almost a year ago at Vale Community Hospital in Dursley. Led by wassail master Steve Rowley, the event began with a [...]
Packets of seeds were flying off our stall at Stroud Farmers' market on Saturday as the Stroud Community Seed Bank launched its first ever catalogue. We were proud to be able to share our very first year of harvest, and delighted to see such a high level of interest in our seeds and the seed bank. [...]
Please join us for our first ever Vale Wassail at Vale Community Hospital in Dursley on Sunday 19th February from 4.30pm. For this traditional ancient ceremony we will say a toast for growth and an abundant harvest. The wassail celebrates the humble apple tree. We will give thanks for its produce and scare away evil spirits, banish [...]
We will have a stall on the 21st of January 2017 at Stroud Farmers market! The fruit tree sale will include a variety of fruit trees and soft fruit shrubs available including some more out-of-the ordinary fruit like medlar, mulberry, various nuts, tayberry, loganberry and many more! We'll also be taking orders on the day for another delivery [...]
It's been a very productive few months this autumn at the Vale Community Hospital Allotments in Dursley. Our new allotment tenants have begun planting and our flower borders are in. The first flower border we transformed looked beautiful until frosts earlier this month - lots of bright colours and we hope that next year will be [...]
On Monday 3rd October 2016 we welcomed around 20 visitors to an open day at our Selsley Community Growing Scheme as part of the fantastic Stroud Valleys Showcase. In the beautiful parish of Selsley, we are fortunate to be able to use some private allotments that had been neglected over the last 20 years. We decided [...]
We're making excellent progress at Vale Community Hospital! We've had a good team of volunteers show up each week, new friendships have been made and we did 15 raised beds over 2 days at the beginning of August. The next week we started putting the compost in and they are coming along nicely now. Thanks to The [...]
We're collecting/accepting donations of unwanted shrubs and hedging materials - particularly saplings - that we're going to eventually sell or give away for a donation. The reason we're doing this is that a lot of commercial hedging, although promoted as native, is actually brought in from Holland. Our work includes being asked to create wildlife friendly [...]
