The garden will not only provide a communal area for residents
to meet, socialise and learn together but also be used to help them
economically by allowing them to produce their own food. It will
help individual and families achieve outcomes such as healthier
living, by providing an environment for positive mental health and
exercise.
The community garden was an idea put forward by the Milford
Community Association. The land was offered by St.Marks Methodist
church to the association for a potential project for the local
neighbourhood.
The community has been working on their community garden
aspirations for a year, following on from last year's growing and
cooking workshops that were aimed at giving residents new skills
and inspiration for healthy meals and lifestyles.
The garden offers between eight to twelve individual, family and
partnership plots, three community plots for courses and local
schools, a communal herb garden, communal seating and an outdoor
cooking device, communal orchard, edible hedgerows and a flower
garden.
A steering group is in place with representation from the local
Community Association, St.Mark's Methodist Church, Yeovil Children
Centre's and South Somerset District Council to oversee the
operations and development of the garden programme.
Local residents can register with the community association to
take on a plot for between one and two years.
The programme is part of the South Somerset Together's Local
Strategic Partnership programme to tackle health inequalities in
Yeovil, with additional grant support from South Somerset District
Council and the Sure Start Oakland's Children Centre.
If you are a Milford resident and interesting to having a plot
within the Milford Community Garden, please contact
James Divall (Health Inequalities Project Manager) 01935 462703
or e-mail.