Green Haven People’s Patch

17/05/2026

I’m so impressed with how Helen Scott and Amanda Dury have brought our vision to life over the last year, on what we wanted the allotment space to be.

Thinking back to last year, when none of us knew much about growing fruit and vegetables or running an allotment, and then looking at where we are now and the wide variety of plots we have, growing loads of different types of fruit and vegetables, it’s a pretty incredible bit of progress.

And not just that, but the fact that we have all brought to life a vibrant, beautiful and sustainable space that was just a barren bit of unused allotment space less than 2 years ago…

It’s a genuine joy to spend our time there. ❤️

Whilst my time is more limited since starting my window cleaning business, I’ve done my best to stay on top of the bigger, more physical jobs, and managing the nature side of the allotment, such as the pond and wildflower areas.

It’s been another busy day today, and my brother came along as well, to help us get the new poly-tunnel up, which we purchased using some of the funds from the grant awarded to us by Eastwood Town Council.

And I’m pleased to announce that we are finally at the stage now, where we can start hosting our educational sessions for kids (and adults) on growing your own food, creating an allotment area (whether you have a huge or a tiny garden) and creating and maintaining a garden space that works with and helps nature and wildlife.

There will be the chance for guests to get stuck in and get muddy, doing digging, planting, and harvesting, as well as fun nature themed activities!

The only job left for me to do now, is to convert the old work shed into a small classroom type space, so that we have somewhere to continue the learning when it rains!

Everyone is welcome to come along to the sessions and join in! 🙂

We’ve had lots of interest already and will be starting the first sessions soon, so please feel free to drop the group page a message, and we will come back to you to arrange a session. We will be offering both evening and weekend sessions, as well as special holiday sessions over the summer holiday.

Whether you would like to come along as a family with your kids, or if you are part of a Scouts, Cubs, Beavers or social club and would like an educational trip out for the kids, get in touch!

If you could also take a minute to share our group with your friends and family so that we can help spread the work we are doing, that would be hugely appreciated!

Thank you all for following our journey so far and for the brilliant messages of support you’ve been sending over!

Also special thanks to Eastwood Town Council, and the Mayor of Eastwood, as well as to the other allotment owners, who have supported us, given us advice and generally been really kind and welcoming!

From Ant & everyone else at Green Haven People’s Patch x

11/05/2026

Helen and I attended a presentation evening tonight at Eastwood Town Hall for local charities.

Green Haven People’s Patch has been awarded a £250 grant for the second year running, which is hugely appreciated as it allows us to expand the allotment and facilitate the running of education sessions for small groups. Teaching the benefits and importance of growing your own food and helping local wildlife.

As we were leaving, the head of the Eastwood Scouts approached us and asked if we could run small group sessions with the local cubs and scouts group. They also suggested other groups that they could put me in touch with, who would be interested in attending the sessions.

So over the next week, Amanda and Helen will be planning how to use the their portion of the grant to improve the allotment (including buying a new poly tunnel), whilst I use my portion to try to transform my workshop shed, into a small classroom (including whiteboards and educational posters etc).

Then hopefully over the next few weeks we will be starting the sessions where scouts etc can come and do some digging and planting, building bug hotels and various other fun activities!

Thank you again to Eastwood Town Council for their support. We are all so grateful! ❤️

11/03/2026

After a couple of months being away over the winter we are officially back for the 2026 season and we couldn’t be more thrilled! 🥳

We didn’t waste any time this weekend and got stuck in with the many jobs that need doing to set us up for the year ahead! 💪🏻

Saturday:

One of the biggest issues we have come back to is the pond…

When we picked the location for the pond, we failed to anticipate just how many apples would fall from the tree above.

Ironically, the reason we chose this location was because of the fact that the tree provided some much needed shade for the pond critters over the summer and would hopefully prevent too much algae from taking over.

Easily the worst part of clearing the apples from the pond area was the smell!

As the apples sat rotting in the water all winter, they have fermented, which created a foamy coating on the top of the pond, and the aroma as I cleared the water and got all of the apples together to put into the compost, was one of the single worst smells I have ever encountered.

It honestly smelt like rotting flesh mixed with a sickly sweet vinegar.

I have since learned that water acts as a catalyst for the fermentation process and hugely increases the awful smells that are given off.

With some help from Amanda, and with a tea towel wrapped around my face to reduce the overpowering odours, I managed to get all of the apples removed from the pond, and gathered them together ready for composting.

I then emptied as much of the water, silt, rotten leaves and debris from the pond as possible, ready for refilling and giving it a fresh start ready for frogs that were born here last year to hopefully return to lay their spawn.

Once this was done, I moved on to cutting back as many of the branches from the tree that overhang the pond as possible.

We have also invested in some grating to go over the pond, which will allow frogs and other animals / insects to access the pond, whilst hopefully preventing the apples from going for a swim next autumn 🤞🏻

The twins and Freddie got stuck in too, digging over the vegetable plots ready for spring planting and using the branches I was cutting down to improve one of the dead hedges.

Sunday:

Helen, having returned from her short break, and my mum, continued the job of digging over the vegetable beds and started planning the crop rotation for this year.

Whilst they were doing this, me and my brother were busy dismantling a shed that has kindly been donated by Alexandra’s grandma.

And because apparently I have the worst luck when it comes to bad smells, the shed was surrounded by wild garlic, which apparently took pleasure in kicking up a god awful smell as we trod on it trying to get the shed taken down.

Anyone that has suffered the misfortune of smelling massive patches of wild garlic before, will know just how bad those two hours were for us 🤦🏻

(As it turns out, being a member of a community allotment is not for those with a delicate disposition or who are not able to stomach some of the most vile aromas that nature can produce!)

Despite the borderline inhumane conditions I’ve faced this weekend, I literally could not be happier to be back at it!

We have so many exciting things planned for 2026.

Also for the very first time, we will also be opening up the allotment to visitors, in the form of some brilliant events:

- wreath making.
- pumpkin carving.
- nature learning days.
- planting sessions and a chance to come and lend a hand.
- bird box and bug hotel making lessons.
- picnics and bug catching sessions with small family groups.

As well as some sessions we are hoping to plan with other community allotment groups and some local charities to help raise funds for them and to spread awareness for local support groups.

There is so much happening this year and we are all so excited!

If you would like more information or would like to enquire about possibly coming to help out for the day with your kids, drop myself, Helen or Amanda a message and we will come back to you as soon as possible! 🙂

Another busy weekend planned ahead, so look out for more updates next week and as always, please help us spread the word by sharing our posts and inviting your friends and family to join the Facebook group ❤️

Thanks,

Ant
Green Haven People’s Patch

25/10/2025

Massive thanks to Deputy Mayor Councillor Neil Levett for writing a piece about the Green Haven People’s Patch, which will be included in the Autumn / Winter edition of the Eastwood Town Newsletter.

We have been really humbled by the support of not just Eastwood Council, but also people from the local community ❤️

We hope to be able to repay this kindness and support next year, by running educational and activity sessions for children and adults from Kimberley and Eastwood.

Including sessions on growing your own fruit and veg at home, craft activities (plant pot decorating, garden ornament making, pumpkin carving, bug hotel and bird house crafting etc), and sessions on helping nature by creating gardens that support bees and the local wildlife in general, through the planting and growing of flowers and fauna.

Many gardens in the UK are just being paved over now, and people swap out their grass with fake grass to remove the need for mowing etc. These decisions have a terrible impact on nature and the local wildlife, and there are so many ways that people can make small changes which would make a huge difference.

We are hoping that by educating the next generation on the importance of working with nature, we can drive real positive change 👍🏻

16/10/2025

- Im sorry that I have not been able to post as much lately, I’ve been really busy due to the work I’ve been putting into starting my new Window Cleaning business in Eastwood/Kimberley.

However, the group (especially Amanda Dury and Helen Scott) have still been working incredibly hard, harvesting produce to donate to local charities and kitchens (to be used in food preparation for the local community, and to make lovely jams etc).

They have also been making further improvements to the allotment - such as extending the vegetable plots, adding a polytunnel and generally maintaining the area and preparing it for the winter months.

- Today, Helen received the below letter from Eastwood Council, advising that they have received an anonymous donation for our group!

If the individual who donated the funds is a follower of our group on social media, please know that this donation and your kind words, mean so much, and we are incredibly grateful ❤️

- Eastwood Council also sent someone along to the allotment recently, in order to take some photos and have a chat to us about the work we have been doing, for an article which will be included in the local community newsletter (which should be released soon - when we’ve received it, I will share the article to this page).

We have been sent some of the photos, which I have included below with permission from the photographer.

- I’m hoping to spend some time at the allotment this weekend (weather depending), and I will share some updates on what we have planned over the autumn and winter and what we are hoping to achieve in 2026 - which may include springtime planting events, summer activities, and a pumpkin patch for next autumn, along with various Halloween and pumpkin themed activities!

- Thanks to the work put in by everyone this year, we are so close to being in a position to host some fun little events for small groups from local families and schools 🥳 so stay tuned for more information on this in the New Year!

20/08/2025

It’s been a busy few months at the Green Haven People’s Patch… As we haven’t posted in a while I have lots to share!

We’ve put the grant that we received to good use, investing in a Poly-Tunnel and materials to improve the footpaths and plot areas, as well as various other projects we are working on.

We’ve had a great harvest of fruits and vegetables over the last few weeks too, and donated a lot of the food to local non-profit organisations, so that their chefs can make dinners for people that need them. We also had plenty for ourselves to use in dinners or to make fruit crumbles etc.

I’m sorry that I haven’t been posting updates as much lately. I have started my own Window Cleaning business and it has understandably been an incredibly busy time whilst I establish the business and source new customers around Kimberley and Eastwood.

The work I’ve been doing with the group on the allotment over the last 8 months, made me realise that there are much better options than being stuck behind a desk every day. Doing a job that allows me to be outside and to be active every day has improved my mental and physical health immensely.

In a few weeks when I am properly up and running, I will be back to sharing updates to this page regularly.

Whilst I’ve been busy setting up my business, Helen and my Mum have been working incredibly hard to get the allotment looking fantastic, ready for a local journalist to visit us this afternoon to take some photos for a story they are doing on the Green Haven group.

It’s honestly amazing how much they have done in the last few weeks.

Please keep sharing our page with friends and family and keep engaging with our posts. Your positive feedback is hugely appreciated! ❤️

Thanks!

Ant
Green Haven People’s Patch

20/07/2025

We weren’t about to let a bit of rain prevent us from wrapping up our jobs at the allotment this weekend!

My mum especially, who was still down at breakfast both days and cleared weeds from most of the veg plots, got some plant feed on the tomatoes and cucumbers, found a load of loose branches for the dead hedge and plot borders, and helped me clear weeds from the area for the greenhouse base.

I took the twins foraging and we got a bumper haul of apples, damsons and blackberries from the communal orchard. Might have go at making some jam and will use the rest in some smoothies. We also planted some new sunflowers and put new longer supports on the bigger ones.

The base area for the greenhouse is finally finished, despite the weather’s best efforts to turn the ground into a muddy swamp…

When the weather improves and we have finished up some of the bigger jobs, we will begin inviting small groups to come and help out for the day.
With a chance to learn about growing your own food at home and things you can do in your own garden to help the local wildlife.

All ages are welcome, as long as small children have a parent or carer with them, so if you think this is something that your family would enjoy, then please drop us a message and we will get you booked in 🙂👍🏻

19/07/2025

Spent this morning clearing a large patch of the allotment ready to put in a greenhouse that we have been offered.

I was expecting the rain and change in weather would make it easier, but the humidity was crazy and I was dripping in sweat by the time I’d finished… 😩

Glad it’s done though and it’s the perfect area for the new greenhouse.

Once the greenhouse is up, I’m going to make some fencing with the pallets that we moved today.

Bonus picture of Beanie a huge marrow that we harvested today! The biggest we’ve grown yet.

02/07/2025

The best way to relax after work ❤️

Alex and the kids joined me at the allotment tonight, and the twins spent the entire time playing with some of the dozens of frogs that live in the pond, whilst I gave everything a good soak and filled the water butts.

Lots more of the veg is nearly ready for harvesting and taking to one of the local charities we have been providing fresh food for 🙂

Helen and my mum have done an incredible job of keeping the veg cycling from the greenhouses to the plots. I just do a lot of digging, watering, sawing and moving heavy things…

We are also hoping to start running some education sessions soon, teaching small groups of kids how to grow their own food at home and the things they can do to help the local wildlife. Now we have received the grant, we can put some of it towards making the space safer for visitors.

26/06/2025

❤️ Glad we could help!!!

Will hopefully have lots more for you soon 🙂👍🏻

A big thank you to Helen Scott and the community allotment group Green Haven People’s Patch for their wonderful gesture in providing both home grown fruit and veg for our lovely cook Jennifer Dann who will lovingly prepare meals for our members.
Congratulations also to Jen for again achieving a 5 star food hygiene certificate from Broxtowe BC in line with the Food Standards Agency. Brilliant!