The Alnwick Garden Trust, which manages and delivers The Garden's community projects, is dedicated to providing an exciting and varied programme that benefits people of all ages and backgrounds. The projects aim to engage with people in an authentic way, and the Trust listens carefully to participants' needs and interests, allowing them to shape and grow the programmes. These projects reflect our charitable aims, which have been at the core of what The Garden has hoped to achieve since the beginning of its development:
- Cultivating curious minds
- Inspiring activity and well-being
- Encouraging play
- Transforming the landscape
- Addressing disability
- Supporting the local economy
- Offering arts experiences to all
Among our charitable projects is the Roots and Shoots Project and the Elderberries programme.
Roots and Shoots Project
The Roots and Shoots vegetable garden - described by one of our volunteers as 'the heartbeat of The Alnwick Garden' - is a hidden gem which plays an integral role in our learning philosophy; nurturing seeds of interest and helping them grow.
Each year the Trust invites 10 schools from Northumberland to take part in the project, which takes learning into the great outdoors. Pupils from participating schools develop and maintain their own gardens - picking and tasting fresh herbs, fruit and vegetables along the way.
Inspiring Activity and Well-being
The Garden works closely with organisations in the region to develop a programme of activity to encourage social interaction and promote health and well-being amongst the older members of our community. Popular activities in the past have included 'Walk, Wheel and Stroll', 'Salsacise' and monthly coffee mornings.
'Blooming Well' is a new element of this programme, where The Garden will be working in partnership with Northumbria Health Care Trust to enable adults with memory loss to take part in a series of gardening workshops.
Days out for disabled children
The Garden works in partnership with Northumberland County Council to provide fun days out for families with disabled children. Many of the families involved in the programme often find it difficult to relax and enjoy a family day out without worrying about public reaction to their child's disability.
Our staff develop relationships with each of the families to gain a better understanding of their needs, fears and hopes, in order to ensure that their visit to The Garden is as positive and enjoyable as possible.