Three years ago today Sara Venn tweeted…….

Serious question #Bristol. Why have we no Incredible Edible Bristol and would anyone be interested if I tried to set something going? Ps RT

And the rest, as they say, is history!!

So what have we achieved in 3 years?

Well we have supported 37 gardens to flourish, beginning in Dove Street with that amazing community plot and moving across the city, far and wide. Gardens have appeared in shopping centres, on train platforms, in schools, central reservations, outside restaurants, in parks and on roundabouts. Some are tiny and some are large, but what they all share is that they have all been made by folk wanting to see a change in our urban realm and who understand the power of growing food in those lost and unloved spaces.

Our Urban Growing Trail sees 14 gardens link Temple Meads with Millennium Square, and contains our largest space, the Edible Garden at the Quakers Burial Ground! Soon this project will be relaunched with a new map and an exciting new hashtag.

Working with Severnside Community Rail Partnership we have added 2 beautiful container gardens to each platform along the Severn Beach Line, bringing fresh herbs and fruit to the stations along the line. This work continues to grow…..

Our Edible Schools programme supports teachers across the city to grow successfully with their students, and is free to access for every school across the city and beyond. Indeed it has been so successful it is the go to schools programme for the Incredible Edible movement and so available to schools in 120 towns and cities across the UK.

Last year we embarked on making a garden in the Bearpit, possibly Bristol’s most debated space. The work on this garden will continue this year and aims to create an oasis of calm in a somewhat chaotic space.

This year our focus will be on skill sharing, offering more focused workshops across all the gardens as well as launching several new initiatives, with the first being our How to Garden Course, which is available to sign up to now!!

At this stage we feel it appropriate to thanks some of our collaborators and friends!! At Bristol, Almondsbury Garden Centre, Severnside Community Rail Partnership, Cabot Circus, River Cottage, Dame Emily Park Group, Friends of Horfield Common, Clifton Down Shopping Centre, Destination Bristol, Bristol 24/7, Bearpit Bristol, BIG, Cleve Nursery, Hungry Gap Productions, Bristol Parks Department, The Green Capital Partnership, Bristol Food Network, Food Connections, Love Food Festival and so, so many more folk have helped and supported and believed in our vision and in turn we hope we have supported and enriched their lives to.

So here’s to the next 3 years. And remember, if you eat, you’re in!!