Garden News - December 2024

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We kicked off December with our wonderful wreath-making workshop, which was fully booked, and this year we welcomed a lovely group of women and children to learn how to make natural wreaths from our willow and foraged foliage.

The weather was a bit drizzly so everyone ended up in the Hub, which felt really cheery, with mince pies and Helen’s delicious mulled apple juice.

Connections were made and ideas were shared, and some glorious wreaths resulted.

The guys from Guildford Andy’s Man Club (a men’s mental health support group) have been coming to the garden over the past weeks to help us with the Hub. It’s been a real pleasure to welcome them to Rosamund, and they’ve really pushed the project forward—hanging the doors and putting in the supports around the roof. They’ve also cleared the collapsed dome structure away and are planning a lovely fire circle and meeting space.

The team from Surrey County Council mental health have been making a film about the benefits of volunteering for projects like Rosamund, to spread the word on the benefits of working in groups and gardening for wellbeing. We’ll share the result when it’s completed, and look out for our Mike talking about the joy of scything!

The Guildford Spoon Club had their first meeting at the Hub, and despite the cold, reported a successful evening. They have donated a few lovely spoons for the garden and we have commissioned one of our lovely DofE students to make a bit of artwork with some of them.

Helen and Clare visited the pottery class at the Adult Institute in Guildford to collect the wonderful pieces they had made for the garden. We were bowled over by the fantastic array of art they had made—a gorgeous plaque of combined work to go on the Hub and lots of separate pieces that will be placed in and around it. Many thanks to Anamica Vince, who led the project. We can’t wait to see them installed in the Spring.

Our hibernaculum project was a real communal work, started by the students from RGS and GHS and contributed to by various volunteers. The school group did a fab job of creating the earth roof and dead hedge on top, while Clare and Ann had a great afternoon weaving the willow sides together. We hope to buy some wildlife cameras to see who’s using it (watch this space).

Our December Big Job Sunday was a bit of a washout, with the end of the storms keeping people inside, but it didn’t deter the men from Andy’s Man Club. They set to in the Hub making supports and frames, with Tony, the carpenter, providing support and keeping them busy.

We were pleased to invite them to our little Christmas gathering to mark the end of the year with mulled cider, lovely cakes, and mince pies. It felt really wonderful to gather in our beautiful cob house after four years of ups and downs to make it a reality. 

We’re nearly there with the build and hope to have it draft-proofed by the end of the Spring.

Meanwhile, our salads are growing in the poly-tunnel and providing much-needed fresh greens. The broad beans have been planted out in the raised beds and the garlic is showing healthy green spears above the ground. Promises of bounty for 2025.

We are delighted to welcome Surrey Wildlife Trust's Belted Galloway cows to the Rosamund Field again for their 4th year of conservation grazing. This year we have 9 boys who are already making good inroads into eating up the grass thatch, opening up micro-habitats with their hooves and cowpats and mixing up the seedbed as they move around so that the less vigorous grasses and flowers can thrive in the summer and insect diversity can improve. Thank you to the Wildlife Trust Grazing team and to our dedicated team of lookerers who check the cows' welfare daily and help us get the temporary fencing up. 

Image by Olivia Cal

Image by Olivia Cal

Our regular group days will resume in January (weather permitting) and we’ll be cobbing again as soon as things warm up. 

Until then wishing you all a lovely festive break while we dream of our next adventures for the coming year!