In quiet corners of Dorset, a community project is using gardening to sow the seeds of better health and well-being.
Nurture our Community CIC offers green spaces in several parts of Dorset, where residents can reconnect with nature and learn sustainable gardening practices. Nurture’s aim: improve well-being through hands-on, outdoor experiences.
Lawrence Camilleri, the founder of Nurture, said he wanted to give people, especially youngsters, a chance to reconnect with green spaces, lessening the dangers of the digital world.
“What I really want to do,” Camilleri said, “is take youngsters away from their PCs and laptops, bring them into the fresh air.”
Nurture has sites in Verwood, Lymington and Salisbury, which anyone who wants to learn about sustainable gardening practices and nutrition can access for free. The community operates with support from several landowners in Dorset and Hampshire.
In addition to gardening, Nurture offers holistic therapy sessions and a home delivery service for fresh vegetables grown on-site. These activities promote sustainability and also help fund the project.
“We are going back to basics, growing our own food chemical-free as much as possible,” said Fiona, a volunteer with the community. The community enables people to “take back control of food supply”.
Kim Johnson sponsors the Lymington site on her family land. She explained how she and her husband had previously attempted to build allotments, but felt it was “too much”. So meeting Camilleri was the “perfect opportunity” to utilise their land and create a community green space.
“We always wanted to get people up here, enjoying the space and making it productive,” Johnson said, adding that the site also offers an equine therapy service to those with additional needs.
What motivates her, Johnson said, is the opportunity to bring people together to do something that’s healthy and good for mental health.
She added: “We’ve got a little boy here who could be at home on his phone — but he’s playing in a pond, he’s playing with a horse, he’s helping to dig.”
Nurture currently operates multiple hubs across Dorset and Hampshire. Camilleri’s long-term goal is to expand these growing spaces across the UK, creating similar opportunities in other areas.
