Kerry Brown

Kerry Brown Formally GardenGirls Can . Open Space Operative aka.

Council grass cutter 😉 Sharing my journey looking after our beautiful local parks, coastlines, and green spaces across Thanet

PEGWELL COASTAL PATH This one took a couple of days, and it was definitely a job where you have to find the balance betw...
03/09/2026

PEGWELL COASTAL PATH

This one took a couple of days, and it was definitely a job where you have to find the balance between making the path accessible and safe, while still being sensitive to the environment around you.

Pegwell is a pretty special place, so it’s not simply a case of cutting everything back as far as you can. There’s a lot of thought that goes into what needs removing, what can stay, and how far we actually need to go.

The three of us put a LOT of work into this one, working through the vegetation to open the path back up and give it a finish that should hold it off for a while. That includes the car park side of the pathway where we manually removed weeds without any need for glysophate.👏👏

And the best part? Hearing from people who use the path regularly.

We had loads of lovely comments from the public about how much better it felt particularly how safer and more comfortable it was to use.

That’s the bit that makes all the aching arms, scratches and questionable amounts of sweat worth it! 😂

A big transformation from where we started, and I think the three of us can be pretty proud of this one. 👏

Royal Crescent in Ramsgate has a fascinating bit of history.The Crescent dates back to the 1820s, when Ramsgate was grow...
21/08/2026

Royal Crescent in Ramsgate has a fascinating bit of history.
The Crescent dates back to the 1820s, when Ramsgate was growing rapidly as a fashionable seaside resort. The original plans were actually much more ambitious than what we see today, with a much longer sweep of houses planned along the West Cliff.
The development was designed as an elegant residential area overlooking the sea, with a private pleasure garden in front for the residents to enjoy. That garden eventually became a public recreation ground in 1888.
One of the things I love about working around Thanet is realising just how much history is beneath the places we walk past every day. A patch of grass, an old wall or an overgrown corner can sometimes be part of a story that goes back 200 years.

This hardstanding area was definitely more than a quick strim and tidy-up. It had become heavily overgrown and was full ...
17/08/2026

This hardstanding area was definitely more than a quick strim and tidy-up. It had become heavily overgrown and was full of accumulated rubbish and fly-tipped waste.

We got stuck in and cleared the majority of it, but there was one corner we unfortunately had to leave behind after coming across material we suspected could be asbestos. As annoying as that was for me 😂, safety has to come first, so that section needs to be dealt with through the proper process.

While we were working, several residents came out to speak to us about the fly-tipping. They were genuinely disappointed that the area had ended up like this particularly because it means they aren't able to properly use the hardstanding/car park as intended.

And this is something I don't think people always realise about fly-tipping.

It doesn't just look awful. Once rubbish is scattered across a site, it can make the job of actually clearing and maintaining that space much more difficult. Waste has to be dealt with before we can safely get to the vegetation underneath it, and potentially hazardous materials can bring the work to a complete stop.

The residents clearly want their space back, and hopefully once the remaining issue is dealt with, they'll be able to make proper use of it again.

From overgrown and unusable, to almost completely cleared. 👏🌱

Just that one little corner still annoying me though... 😂

And a friendly reminder. This is a Thanet Council job, and I work for them 😉😂

Now I’m curious… 👀Who remembers this fountain from years ago?Was it still running when you were younger? Do you remember...
14/08/2026

Now I’m curious… 👀

Who remembers this fountain from years ago?

Was it still running when you were younger? Do you remember what this part of Dane Park looked like?

If anyone has old photos, stories or memories of it, please share them in the comments, I’d genuinely love to see them. ❤️

It’s funny how you can work somewhere and suddenly discover a whole load of history you never knew was there.

One thing I do love about this job getting to uncover little pieces of Thanet that people might otherwise walk straight past.

Job we completed this morning to end a very long, very hot week of work. Enjoy your weekends everyone 🙂

From GardenGirl to greenkeeper… and now open space operative for Thanet Council. 🌱Sometimes you don’t realise how much y...
13/08/2026

From GardenGirl to greenkeeper… and now open space operative for Thanet Council. 🌱

Sometimes you don’t realise how much you’ve done until you put it all in one place.
These photos are basically a little timeline of my life over the last few years.

I started with GardenGirls Can, built a business from nothing, worked incredibly hard, had some amazing opportunities, appeared on BBC Garden Rescue, lost it all when circumstances changed, tried out Greenkeeping then started The ReRooted Project CIC, tried to give back to the community…
and now I’ve ended up working in Open Spaces for the council. Still serving the community, just in a different way.

It hasn't exactly been a straight line. 😂

There have been some massive highs, some pretty brutal lows and a fair few “right, what do I do now?” moments.
But every chapter has taught me something.
And I think that's why I've finally decided to change this page from GardenGirls Can to Kerry Brown.
Because GardenGirls Can was never really the whole story.
I am.

The gardener.
The business owner.
The greenkeeper.
The community project founder.
The grass cutter.
The person who keeps starting again when things don't work out.
So I'm taking the name off the front and putting my own name there instead.

If you've followed me since the GardenGirls Can days, thank you. You’ve watched a LOT of this journey unfold. ❤️
And if you're new here… welcome to the chaos. 😂🌱
Same woman. New chapter.

🥵 WHAT. A. DAY. 🥵 Working outside in this heat definitely isn’t for the faint-hearted! 😂 But today’s job at Northmore Wa...
13/08/2026

🥵 WHAT. A. DAY. 🥵

Working outside in this heat definitely isn’t for the faint-hearted! 😂
But today’s job at Northmore Walk, Ramsgate was well worth the sweat.
We spent the day giving the area some much-needed TLC weeding, clearing rubbish, cutting back overhanging trees and tackling the ivy that had started taking over.

It was lovely chatting with some of the residents too, who were really pleased to see us there giving the area some attention.

Safe to say we were absolutely roasting by the end of it. Is it Friday yet!?

One of today’s jobs at Mem Rec, Broadstairs.Three of us from the TDC Open Spaces team and overgrown alleyway!It might no...
11/08/2026

One of today’s jobs at Mem Rec, Broadstairs.

Three of us from the TDC Open Spaces team and overgrown alleyway!

It might not be the most exciting job on the list and it’s certainly not quite as cool as working around a Viking ship! 😂 but these are the jobs that make a real difference to the everyday use of our public spaces.

Alleyways and paths like this are easy to overlook when they’re clear, but when they become overgrown, they can quickly become difficult to get through and less welcoming for the people who use them.

Keeping them open and accessible means people can get where they need to go and enjoy the surrounding spaces without having to battle their way through the vegetation.

And a little appreciation for my teammates who have to put up with me being a bit finicky every single day.

😂 I have a habit of spotting the bits everyone else has happily walked past and deciding they need sorting too, followed by the inevitable “while we’re here…” moment. Luckily, they’ve become very good at adapting to me and my particular standards! I genuinely appreciate them for it. The jobs are always better when you’ve got a team that just gets stuck in together. They also remember to ask me if ive taken my before/after photos ☺️

Today, myself and two other members of the TDC Open Spaces team spent the day giving one of Thanet’s most unusual landma...
10/08/2026

Today, myself and two other members of the TDC Open Spaces team spent the day giving one of Thanet’s most unusual landmarks a bit of TLC, clearing back the brambles and overgrowth around Hugin, the Viking longship at Cliffsend.

In 1949 the ship sailed from Denmark into what is now Viking Bay, Broadstairs, in front of huge crowds before eventually finding its permanent home overlooking Pegwell Bay.
75+ years later, it's still standing proudly in Thanet.

Today wasn't quite as adventurous as crossing the North Sea in a Viking longship but we did our bit to keep this piece of Thanet's history looking its best.

A few hours of cutting and clearing and the ship is once again the star of the show.


30/07/2026

its ironic how much blowing, sucks 🙄

The path edge along this verge at Minnis Bay produced 8 very full, heavy sacks of green waste this morning! It's already...
30/07/2026

The path edge along this verge at Minnis Bay produced 8 very full, heavy sacks of green waste this morning!

It's already looking so much better and, more importantly, it's now far more manageable to keep on top of.

One thing I've really noticed is that not using weedkiller has its benefits, but it also means weeds grow much more vigorously and take a lot more time to remove by hand. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. Many of these "weeds" are fantastic for pollinators, especially through the summer months.

Timing is everything. Trying to clear weeds in the middle of warm weather is a bit like fighting a losing battle because they just keep growing back. As the seasons start to change, we'll be able to get ahead of them and make a real difference.

Something else people don't always see is how much we have to work around the public. Safety always comes first. If people are sitting on benches, children are using the play area, or cars are parked tight against the verge, we can't safely mow, strim or use blowers nearby. Rather than risk anyone's safety, we move on and come back later.

Anyone who knows me knows how hard I find walking away from a job that isn't finished! 😂 But sometimes that's exactly what's needed to make sure everyone stays safe.

Every little bit adds up, and it's lovely seeing these spaces gradually improve. 💚

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Margate
Kent

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