This Sunday (21 July) writer and columnist Deborah Orr is throwing open the gates of Stockwell’s Secret Garden, Spurgeon Garden on Teversham Walk.Just six months ago this garden, at the heart of Stockwell’s Spurgeon Estate, was a wasteland, locked and neglected. Abandoned by all, apart from kids climbing over the railings and the resident fox.
It was particularly tragic to see this dereliction in inner London, where green spaces are so valuable. People had been excluded from the garden for over two decades, and nobody quite remembers why it was locked in the first place.
Residents resolved to reopen the garden. Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows donated more than 200 plants for the woodland, and Lambeth and City Hall funded the raised beds. The heart of this inner London estate is now teaming with wildlife and the community has come together to add a new dimension to city lives.
On Sunday the residents will be hosting a Garden Party, everyone is invited, where there will be singing and dancing round the mulberry bushes to celebrate the reopening, after 20 years, of a hidden pocket of woodland.
Bring a picnic and be entertained. Headlining is Edinburgh-bound Herstory, by Polly Clamorous, with their four ukuleles and penchant for dark comedy. This musical compendium chronicles the tales of some of the most enigmatic and misunderstood women in history.
Take tea with Dandy Animals and wrestle with the big questions of life. Urban Growth is running a free ‘edibles’ workshop around raised beds for the potentially green fingered – aficionado residents are already growing food for their kitchen tables.
The Garden Party, part of London National Park City Festival, starts at 12pm and continues until 6pm.
