Posted on behalf of the Turton Tower Kitchen Garden Volunteers
The community garden at Turton Tower “The Kitchen Garden” was restored and continues to be run by a team of volunteers who have raised all the money for this through donations, events, plant sales and by applying for a small number of grants.
In one corner of the garden is the ruin of this two-storey gardeners’ bothy. It was built in the late 1800s but is now a ruin with some dangerously unstable stonework, requiring it, with a surrounding area of the garden to be fenced off.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/turton-tower-bothy-and-garden
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| The ruined bothy |
From their limited funds, the volunteers paid for a surveyor's structural report which details how to stabilise it and secure its future. They have estimates from heritage specialists to do this work, which will cost most of our £10,000 target, with the remainder used to buy fencing. The volunteers will then remove the temporary fencing to incorporate the bothy and the area around it into the kitchen garden, and erect new rabbit-proof fencing around the outside.
Then, in and around the bothy we will create a sensory garden, focussing on plants recommended for wildlife and year-round interest, including some medicinal plants. We will create a wildlife pond with natural planting and a seating area for visitors that overlooks the historic Turton Tower. Within the ruin, stone raised beds will be made for colourful scented plants. Entry to the bothy and its garden from the wider kitchen garden will be through a feature arch with climbing roses. This will link with new accessible paths leading through the bothy garden and inside the bothy where the history of the bothy will be explained.
All the work of clearing, constructing and planting the bothy garden will be done by the volunteers. Any surplus funds or any raised over our initial target will be used for this.
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| Herbaceous borders in the community garden |
