Gardens are wonderful for helping us all to feel happier and more relaxed. Simply being in a garden can alleviate stress and anxiety. Gardening as a physical activity releases endorphins, helping us to feel good about ourselves. From a pot-plant to a window-box, to the Bell House garden, being next to nature is good for us. Main image - Bell House from the Haha - by Adam Swaine
Looking after the natural environment gives a sense of purpose and looking after it with a group of like-minded people is even better. At Bell House we are making the garden a calming and happy place to be in many ways. Here are just a few.
To begin with, the setting is beautiful, calm and (for the middle of London) tranquil. We have inherited a mature garden which we, as volunteers, tend and watch change through the seasons.
Secondly, we are planting. We are growing fruit, vegetables and flowers in our walled garden. We’re growing vines to create our own small vineyard. We’re growing annuals to fill pots with summer colour. We’re adding roses and growing perennials to extend our flowering season. We’re growing vegetables again in the kitchen garden. We built the greenhouse together and the vegetable beds from scratch.
We’re encouraging wildlife into the garden. We’re creating areas of natural planting, leaving grass long in places and the edges fuzzy to create natural habitats. We’re creating log piles for stag beetles and hedgehogs and building insect hotels. We’re putting up bird boxes, feeders and bird baths. We’re planting flowers to feed our bees and encourage butterflies.
We work together, exchange ideas and make friendships. We benefit from the physical exercise and the socialising over coffee and croissants at the end of each session. We garden every Wednesday and Saturday mornings. Please come and see what we are up to, we would love you to join us. Find out more here.
Photo credit - Sara Lloyd