From illustration to poetry to new businesses, all the contributors to the Creative Voices Mind gallery and performances found their mental health informing their work. This event explored the relationship between art and mental health, and in the process challenged stigmas.
Read moreBell House Gardening : Rural Retreat, the History of Bell House's Garden
When Thomas Wright built Bell House in 1767, the garden was extremely important to him: it was a symbol of his wealth and status but it was also a refuge from his busy life as a City merchant.
Read moreBell House Gardening : Wellbeing
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.
Read more“Words in Pain” at Bell House
“Words in pain” is an extraordinary book about the true story of a woman, Olga Jacoby, facing a terminal illness at the start of the 20th century. She wrote a series of letters about coming to terms with her early death and it’s just been turned into a gripping book.
Read moreBell House Gardening : the Edible Garden
To celebrate Edible Britain, this year’s theme for National Gardening Week, Bell House are thinking all things vegetable.
The winter cabbages and garlic planted in the winter will soon be ready to harvest, the broad beans are flowering ready to produce their pods. We’ve earthed up the early crop potatoes and have seen our first asparagus tips appear. Rhubarb was picked and used in Zita’s cookery course on Sunday and the banana plant has emerged from behind its winter fleece.
The lettuces and newly planted herbs are growing away and in the greenhouse, broccoli, coriander and sunflowers will wait until the last frosts are over. Our volunteers are growing cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins, radish, beans, carrots, peppers, tomatoes and chillis on their window sills and these will come into the garden soon to grow on in the beds or spend the summer in the greenhouse.
In the summer we plan to finish our Wednesday morning sessions with lunch from the garden. We’ll use our produce for cooking courses held at Bell House, and provide the house team and volunteers with fresh herbs and seasonal veg, much like the original Georgian and Victorian gardens, three times the size.
We garden every Saturday and Wednesday from 9.30 to 11.30. New volunteers are always welcome, from beginners to experienced gardeners and every level in between. Some of us are there regularly, others come when then can. Our aim is to be sociable, garden, learn new skills and promote wellbeing, all in our beautiful walled garden.
Photo credits - Sara Lloyd