ALIVEgardening

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This is the page for the social and therapeutic horticulture (STH) arm of the charity Alive Activities.

Alive has been running STH sessions in care homes and community gardens across Bristol for over a decade. Mixing gardening and green craft activities, and with a strong focus on the social aspect, we’ve witnessed first-hand the profound difference STH can have on participants at our sessions. All our sessions are dementia-friendly, with many tailored specifically for people living with dementia and older people. Check out our website for more information and also follow

12/06/2026

What a lovely Monday at our Brentry allotment! We opened our session to the public as part of the Festival of Nature. BRACE Alzheimer's Research - the dementia research charity - also joined us for their rearranged fundraiser, making nearly £100 from tea, cake and plant sales. 🌿

Broad beans and sweet peas are at their peak right now, and they've done even better than usual this year. Another week or two and we'll clear this bed, feed it with manure, and get our late runner beans and courgettes in. 🌸

09/06/2026

"I just need to chat." ❤️ It's a privilege to provide a few moments of peer support, signposting and rest for carers at our dementia-friendly allotment in South Bristol.

Being able to send them off with fruit, veg and flowers plus a bit of respite, encouragement and friendship to ease their tricky weeks ahead is all the more important this Carers' Week, as we are all urged to highlight the contribution of unpaid carers and help build carer-friendly communities.

At a recent visit to Carer's Corner at our Talbot Road allotment, some of our members shared:

"I find talking to the other carers really beneficial."

"That was really useful."

"We always get what we need when we come here."

Thank you to all those attend and support our groups.

📸: From recent sessions at our beautiful site - plus a special visit from a Scarlet Tiger moth!

Carers Week

08/06/2026

We accidentally grew a wildflower meadow in our onion and garlic bed! 🌸

Last year, the raised bed next to this one was full of California poppy, cornflower, cerinthe and nigella. It appears the poppies and nigella decided to colonise their neighbouring bed - a fact that was unbeknownst to us when we planted our onion sets and garlic.

We had a debate over whether the bed should be cleared of the flowers, and the upshot was that they shouldn't be.

We might need to revisit that debate this week as the onions are now bolting and we have courgettes and outdoor 'cumbers badly in need of a place to call home! 🥒

04/06/2026

Helping to bring our work to life, here's to Alive's fantastic volunteers! 🙌

Generously sharing their time, kindness, skills, and joy with the older people we support and our staff, our brilliant team of volunteers assist us across our:

🌱 Dementia-friendly gardening groups
👶 Intergenerational sessions
❤️ Dementia support groups
🤝 Community groups & projects
🏥 Hospital gardens
💌 Carer's sessions - and more!

We're also incredibly grateful to have such supportive trustees, volunteering their time and expertise which are so vital to our charity.

The true heart of Alive, we couldn’t do what we do without them. Happy to you all!

Fancy making a difference to the lives of older people? Get involved and find out more: www.aliveactivities.org/volunteer

01/06/2026

Another award for Hoppiness 🏆🌱

Back in April, judges from the Prince of Wales Award visited Alive's Brentry Allotment, as Hoppiness had been shortlisted to win it.

We had a wonderful hour or so with them, sharing the project's story. Residents from Beaufort Grange Care Home - Barchester Healthcare, who came on board in 2024, joined us, as did the legend that is Big Dave, who's been with Hoppiness since the very beginning.

Last Thursday, we were completely blown away to hear we'd won - following in the illustrious footsteps of our friends at Redcatch Community Garden.

Iz and Jen from Alive headed along to collect the award, which celebrates projects run by the community, for the community, and is sponsored by the Duchy of Cornwall.

A huge thank you to everyone who has been part of making Hoppiness what it is. 🍺

28/05/2026

The trouble with peak sweet pea season falling on a week when one session lands on a bank holiday, and the other has to be cancelled, is that you have to pick them all yourself. 🌸

We have sweet peas in two spots at Brentry. One creates a wall of flowers that people pass on their way into the allotment, and the other is growing up a willow obelisk in front of where we have a cuppa, accessible on all sides.

The wall actually self-seeded this year, happily pottering through winter and resulting in wonderfully strong plants.

As one of our top ten dementia-friendly flowers - wonderful for both reminiscence and sensory exploration - sweet peas are a firm allotment favourite. 💜

27/05/2026

Last week, the Wellspring Settlement Gardening For Health group got stuck into some satisfying work at the Community Orchard 🌱

Following preparation works for a new bike shelter, we levelled out the bottom of the orchard and planted bulbs and wildflower seeds to bring some colour back to the patch, with seed balls to follow next week!

Meanwhile, others were busy potting on veg seedlings, sprucing up the strawberry bed, and taking a moment to admire the gloriously furry mullein spike. 🌿

20/05/2026

A brilliant plant sale at Weston General Hospital yesterday for Dementia Action Week! 🌱

Selling plants potted by patients during our dementia-friendly gardening sessions at the hospital's Rainbow Garden, we also sold lavender bags, hand-painted pots and dried posies as well as a wonderful range of plants generously donated by Hutton Garden Centre. (Thank you, Judith, for organising!).

Raising awareness of dementia and funds for Alzheimer's Society, the plant sale also raised £90 for our Rainbow Garden project that we run alongside the brilliant Dementia, Delirium and Falls team and staff at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, funded by Bristol & Weston Hospitals Charity.

Here's to another successful plant sale today at the BRI! 💚

15/05/2026

Next week is Dementia Action Week - an annual campaign to raise awareness and encourage action for people affected by dementia.

To mark it, we're opening our Brentry allotment to the public for our annual event, organised with and raising money for our friends at BRACE Alzheimer's Research.

Come and join us!

📆 Monday 18th May 2026
⏰ 1.30 – 3.30 pm
📍 Charlton Road Allotments, BS10 6JZ

11/05/2026

Two weeks ago, the Wellspring Settlement Gardening For Health group marked the final session of our collaboration with the University of Bristol Theatre Collection and artist jude_hutchen - a project exploring the Fox and Gill archives and celebrating the participatory, nature-led community art of John Fox and Sue Gill (Welfare State International). 🌿

The sun shone all day as we planted a time capsule in the garden, filled with art we'd made together, including a copy of Emily's poem. We rounded off the session with a party to celebrate everyone's hard work. 🎉

Address

Charlton Road Allotments
Bristol
BS106JZ

Telephone

+447423719088

Website

http://aliveactivities.org/what-we-do/services/alive-gardening

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