What started as a challenging project for Kew design students has grown and flourished into a new community garden for the residents of Earlsfield, in the London Borough of Wandsworth and the parishioners of St Andrew’s church.
The church garden had become a quiet wilderness of straying shrubs, worn pathways and unkempt borders. Encircled by daunting iron railings, the garden seldom drew visitors into this rare slice of green space. The idea to transform the garden originally came from James Cable, a design graduate from Kew who persuaded his tutor, John Sallis, to get his students to submit designs to bring the church garden to life.
Project leader Denise Mumford said it was then very much a local effort: "Local people voted for their favourite plan and chose a design by Emily Waters based on the theme of The Labyrinth - an ancient Christian symbol representing the path of life. But without funding, the design couldn't become reality. Valencia Communities Fund generously awarded the scheme £10,000 towards the total cost of the project."
The plan involved opening up the front of the church by removing the railings which were used to make two new entrances to the garden. The centre piece is the beautiful paved Labyrinth surrounded by stone seating. The edges of the garden are paved in bricks and the entire garden is planted to encourage insects and other wildlife. Raised beds have been built for plants and herbs and local children's groups are being encouraged to use the garden to grow their own vegetables. After three months of intensive work clearing, landscaping and planting, the St Andrew's church community garden was opened on December 4th 2010.