What is the People’s Community Garden?
A place where people can make friends and learn skills, as well as contribute their own ideas, to make the garden truly a people’s garden.
ActivGardens is supported by The Suffolk Community Foundation
Down the Garden Path
The People’s Community Garden is an outdoor community resource on a public allotment site, where people of all ages and abilities get together to develop and maintain an inspiring green space. It is a place where you can find your niche and work at your own pace, as part of a friendly and dedicated team. It is a place where you can make friends and learn skills, as well as contribute your ideas, to make it truly a people’s garden.
The garden is divided into different areas, offering a range of gardening experience:
- Grow vegetables on our traditional plots
- Help make the Sensory Garden bloom
- Tend the Herb Spiral full of culinary and medicinal herbs
- Sow seeds in the polytunnels
- Maintain our orchard full of lovely old East Anglian varieties
- Get active for nature in our wildflower meadows and wildlife areas
- We have specially adapted raised beds for wheelchair users and people with mobility issues
- We also run a beekeeping project, an ActivShed for carpentry and construction, and a community hub at our CRESS Pavilion
OPENING HOURS
Open Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9am until 2.30pm
We are also open on occasional weekends for special visits, events and open days
ActivHives Apiary and Bee Garden
Helping keep bees buzzing and train up the next generation of beekeepers.
ActivSheds
A place to get creative, learn skills and work shoulder to shoulder on woodworking projects.
CRESS Pavilion & Community Market
Community Resource, Education and Skills Space. This is where we hold our community markets and pop-up café too.
Current Services and Projects
There are a range of different services and projects on offer at ActivGardens, to find out what we are currently running please click the button to be taken to our home page and then scroll down to look at the Current Services and Projects section.
Placements
Placements for young people and adults – learn skills, improve your health & wellbeing, socialise as part of a friendly team.
We offer a range of activities in the relaxed, welcoming environment of the People’s Community Garden, ActivSheds and Chantry Walled Garden, at a pace to suit the individual.
Being part of ActivGardens will enable you to learn practical skills, gain confidence, and develop friendships.
Programmes for schools
Exciting outdoor learning opportunities & skills development for young people.
We work with schools, colleges and other organisations to help develop young people – giving them a chance to learn hands-on, build confidence and self-esteem, and feel positive about their future.
Becoming a Volunteer
If you enjoy working with others in the great outdoors, then come and work at ActivGardens.
We have a variety of roles at our gardens and outreach sites, helping keep up with the work, contributing your skills, and supporting other people.
Location
The Peoples Community Garden
The address is: The People’s Community Garden, Maidenhall Allotments, Halifax Rd, Ipswich, IP2 8RE
The garden has its own pedestrian gate – from Halifax Road, walk down the roadway (not accessible to vehicles from either end), keeping the allotment site on your left and Bourne Vale Social Club on your right – the gate is a short walk along the pavement on the left hand side. From Wherstead Road, look out for Orwell’s furniture shop and turn into the roadway opposite, which leads under the railway bridge (if you are in a car, park between the trees – if you go under the bridge you may get stuck or have a long way to reverse), walk up the roadway, pass the main allotment gates, and our pedestrian gate will be on your right.
You can catch all buses from The Old Cattle Market, near The Buttermarket shopping mall. Use this link to get the bus timetable: TIMETABLE
The bus follows this path:
The Old Cattle Market > Princes Street (Willis Building) > Burrell Road > Stoke Street > Austin Street > Wherstead Road > Luther Road > Belstead Avenue > Maidenhall Approach > Then a short walk along Halifax Road until you reach the garden.