
If you’ve been following my blog or social media channels over recent weeks, you’ll know I spent my time in lockdown creating a community lockdown garden with my neighbours (if you missed it, you can check that out here).
This past week, the Eastern Daily Press was kind enough to dedicate an entire double page spread to sharing our garden story! We hope it inspires others, and helps us to raise some money for UK wildlife charities, including RSPB and the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust; which is the next phase of our gardening adventure!

The below extract is taken from the Eastern Daily Press interview feature with Emma Lee:
Emma: What plans do you have for your lockdown garden and the project in the coming weeks and months?
Kate: We can’t wait to see how things grow and change, and what colours and flowers we might see. We’ve built our own butterfly feeding table, and hope to attract some more insects to it — and we’ve made a ‘hedgehog highway’ space too — so hopefully we’ll get some more visitors!
Since the shops have reopened, we’ve bought some fairies and hidden them around the garden, for passersby to enjoy looking at!
I’m hoping to make it into a fun ‘fairy hunt’ with a check list of what to look for and I’m hoping to raise some money for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and RSPB with this.

This time next year, I plan to take cuttings of my own and hand them out to all the neighbours who’ve made life so much better during this time — so that they can take something different back to their own gardens, too.
Emma: How do you think this time has changed people’s relationship with nature and what are your hopes for what this will mean for the future?
Kate: I think everyone has been forced to slow down during this time, and as the space we inhabit has been restricted, there’s been more chance to notice and value the presence of nature within our own lives — and see how it can benefit our mental health and physical health.
From fresh air, to countryside walks, growing vegetables to feeding the birds, I’ve seen more people than ever consider what’s happening around them.
As humans have had to slow down and step away, but wildlife has continued as it’s usual pace; at a local level, it has been flourishing.
Read the full article: How socially distanced gardening brought a community together
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Want to read more like this?
Discover more about the motivation behind our garden project:
- ‘Nature is the greatest place to heal and recharge’
- Gardens of Extinction guest post
- Feeding the birds in your garden
- Bug Safari: What to look out for in your garden
- Helping Hedgehogs in your Garden
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