OUR NEW STOCK IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER!
Please browse our online catalogue and get your order in early.
We can deliver direct to your door from May – so you can continue enjoy your garden safely during these challenging times.
People’s Community Garden
An outdoor community resource, where people of all ages, and from all walks of life, get together to develop and maintain an inspiring green space.
Chantry Walled Garden
A beautiful heritage walled garden and plant nursery, open to the public. Here, we offer volunteering and work experience opportunities, and have a garden especially designed for people with disabilities to carry on gardening!
Grow Your Community: Sudbury
Join us in Belle Vue Park and other green spaces around town to make
your community bloom! Make new friends, learn skills, get active, feel fitter and improve your environment in the process.
Current Services & Projects
Read about our current ActivGardens projects to see how you can get involved
ActivHives Apiary and Bee Garden
Get closer to nature in our wildlife areas and take part in beekeeping.
ActivSheds
A place to get creative, learn skills and work shoulder to shoulder on woodworking projects.
CRESS Pavilion
A community hub and information learning centre, where we hold our community market and pop-up cafe.
Heritage Garden
Lap up the atmosphere within the walls of our historical site – full of interesting features and beautiful plants.
Plant Nursery
A great place to learn industry skills, growing and tending plants, as well as buying our beautiful plants.
Bridging The Gap
Bridging The Gap is a project that brings the garden to care homes and hospital wards.
Carry On Gardening!
A project to enable older people to enjoy gardening – at our friendly, welcoming sites or in community and care settings.
Grow to Learn
Providing learning placements for older adults, family carers, and young people in transition with social care needs.
Grow Your Future
A structured learning and work experience programme for adults and young people aged 16+ who face barriers to work and/or a disadvantage in the jobs market.
Women's Skills Exchange
Bringing women together to learn and share skills.
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.
A Look Inside ActivGardens
Where You Can Find Us
The Peoples Community Garden
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 learn, develop and maintain an inspiring green space including growing vegetables, sowing seeds, maintaining wildlife areas, and beekeeping.
Open Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays
9am – 3.30pm
Chantry Walled Garden
Chantry Walled Garden is a heritage walled garden in a public park, with flower borders and vegetable-growing areas, as well as extensive glasshouses as part of our plant nursery.
Open Tuesdays & Thursdays
9am – 3.30pm
Plant Sales every Tuesday & Thursday.
Belle Vue Park
Grow Your Community – Sudbury provides opportunities for local people to get involved in community growing in and around Sudbury.
At Belle Vue Park every Thursday
10am – 12.30pm
Also available in other green spaces around Sudbury via booking.
CRESS Pavilion
Home to the CRESS Community Market & Cafe & ActivSheds.
The CRESS Pavilion is available to hire – contact us on 01473 345350 for more information.
CRESS Community Market – see events for next market
ActivSheds – open Fridays at 10am
Meet the Staff
Susannah Robirosa
ActivGardens Development Manager
Beverly Baker
ActivGardens Project Officer
Lesley Hartley
ActivGardens Project & Site Co-ordinator
News from ActivGardens
Visit the ActivLives plant nursery this Spring
Enjoy a Spring outing to ActivLives plant nursery in Chantry Park, Ipswich, on Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am to 2pm. Our dedicated team of staff and volunteers will be on hand to guide you safely round this community-run heritage site and help you pick something special...
National Gardening Week at the People’s Community Garden
Last week was National Gardening Week and the team down at the People's Community Garden were very busy (as they always are!), they had great fun planting tomato plants and celebrating the enjoyment, fun and relaxation that working in the gardens can bring. The team...
Cash 4 Charities… we need your help!
The East Anglian Daily Times and the Ipswich Star have set up a brand-new initiative called Cash 4 Charities. It’s a campaign created to support local charities that have been hit by the pandemic and ActivLives has signed up. There’s a chance for us to receive a share...
Upcoming ActivGardens Events
Click on an event below to find out more details
Donate
ActivLives is a local charity, which relies on grants, trusts, donations, fundraising activities, sponsorship & commissions to enable us to provide & develop our services across Ipswich & Suffolk.