02 February 2018
The Green Flag Award celebrates the very best, most well-managed parks and green spaces in the country. Places that are constantly looking to improve their sites now and for future generations. Staff and volunteers are trying new ideas, taking risks, and involving others to improve their sites.
Each year we celebrate the very best innovations occurring across Green Flag Award sites, with our Special Innovation Awards. And each week we are sharing the winners' stories, concluding with Oasis community garden and orchard in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire
This small community gardens began six years ago, on the site of an abandoned football field. The real joy of this project is in it's diversity - it's amazing how many projects, mini-gardens, volunteering opportunities and wildlife habitats can be squeezed into a small space. It's easy to see why it has become the heart of the local community.
This group have been proactive in seeking funding too - winning grants from the RHS (to create a butterfly garden) and Tescos (to create an outdoor play area for pre-school children to enjoy) amongst others.
Its the breadth of their innovations, the range of their audiences and the frequency of them trying new things that make this site such deserving winners. Here are just some of the amazing projects, spaces and events going on in the Oasis community garden:
- Gardening Enterprise - creating a community enterprise, teaching skills (through gardening and horticulture courses or workshops) and creating volunteering opportunities
- Butterfly gardens and a children's nature corner - with a multitude of features and habitats to encourage wildlife and teach children about taking care of nature
- Pre-school play project - encouraging the youngest in the community to get outside, playing and exploring
- Community bulb planting - amongst a range of events to bring the local community together and give them ownership of the site
- Fruit farm and polytunnels - growing produce for the community enterprise and enabling visitors to taste the gardens as well as see them
The Oasis Community Gardens is an important green space for the Kilton community and the surrounding area. It is creating a heart and hub of community life and activity for people of all ages in the area. This site shows the importance of parks - large and small - in people's lives and how little spaces can still have massive impacts.
