The Vench is the Adventure Playground and associated buildings and land in Lockleaze, an area of Bristol to the north east of the Gloucester Road. We were invited by Learning Partnership West to take a look at their garden which was sadly unloved and needed some care and attention to bring it back to life. We have been working steadily on the garden with children from the adventure playground and some of our wonderful volunteers, for the last 3 weeks and hopefully we are beginning to make a difference.

The project continues for the next 3 weeks and by the middle of September hopefully the beds will at least be cleared, the pond area cleared and the beds either full of food or of green manures, feeding the soil ready for next years growing season. Hopefully Incredible Edible Bristol will maintain a relationship with the Vench, learning Partnership West and Groundworks, who have just taken over the care of The Vench, and see young people growing food in their community and for their community. Eventually it would be fantastic to expand the space out of The Vench and into the community of Lockleaze.

If you’d like to get involved in this project please come along between 1.30 and 4.30 on Wednesdays. We would love to see you.

These beds were full of weeds so we have weeded and improved the soil with compost

We helped the young people to paint the beds

Volunteers Andy and Dwaine sorting out the area by the pond