Bridewell Gardens: Mental Health Recovery

18/06/2026

Companion planting, a staple for every gardener who grows veg, enlisting the support of other plants to help protect your crop. We’ve planted:

• linseed in between our rows of potatoes as it produces tannins and oils that deter certain pests and their flowers attract beneficial insects
• chives & spring onions in between our rows of carrots as they confuse predators like carrot fly and onion fly
• basil & tagetes (French marigolds) are planted amongst the tomatoes as they are very aromatic and deter pests
• chives are planted amongst the brassicas to deter aphids
• tagetes, calendula and cosmos are all planted in the vegetable beds as they attract beneficial pollinators and predatory insects

Using the benefits of mother nature to help with pest control also gives us so much more colour and interest around the garden.

11/06/2026

Some of you will have noticed at our last Open Day that strange cages have been appearing in our vineyard. Some people asked us why certain vines needed to be caged.

The answer is that our new fruit cage is taking shape alongside a new cut flower bed. The fences are there to protect the area from muntjacs and birds. The vines will be dug up and replaced with fruit and a mix of perennial and annual flowers. We’re so excited that our long-held plans for site improvement are now taking shape.

The other elements of our site improvement; a new open-sided barn for covered outdoor working behind the polytunnel and the long overdue replacement of the garden office to provide a fit-for-purpose environment for both the garden team and Bridewell gardeners will - we hope – start to progress later this summer.

We take a lot of pride in a make do and mend approach at Bridewell, so bigger changes like this can feel particularly significant. If you’re visiting at one of the open days, speak to the team to find out more.

08/06/2026

Come along this Sunday for our June Open Day when the garden is at its most lush. Colours and scents abound. Do come and explore.

You can browse our plants for sale in the stockbeds, buy some Bridewell produce at the stall in the vineyard and sample some delicious treats to keep you going in our pop-up café.

Any questions about our recovery service please just chat to one of the team – we’d be happy to help you.

Dogs welcome but on a lead please. Suggested donation £5 per person. We’d love to see you. 😊

05/06/2026

Current & former Bridewell gardeners – save the date! The afternoon of 25th June for the 2026 Bridewell BBQ.

We’d would like to welcome you and spoil you a little with a delicious lunch rustled up by the Bridewell team.

Please get in touch with the team if you’d like to come. We’d love to see you.

02/06/2026

We were very fortunate to receive a Thriving in Nature grant from Oxfordshire Community Foundation - we recently attended this brilliant event held at Asthall Manor. A perfect opportunity to meet the team at OCF as well as fellow grantees from across the county and other funders. A wonderful event which helped us to forge valuable connections.
Thank you from the Bridewell team.

OCF brings together grantees and funders for shared learning 🫶

Our innovative Thriving in Nature Fund, now in its third year, gave us the opportunity to bring together grantees and funders from the previous two grants rounds for a day of learning, discussion and connection.

In the beautiful setting of Asthall Manor representatives of charitable organisations shared how funding is being used, how projects are developing over time, and the changes they are seeing in the people they support.

Shabnam from Sunrise Multicultural Project in Banbury shared:

🗣️ “Our outdoor trips have been a key highlight. We had a visit to Wendover Woods which brought together 48 participants. For many of those people, it’s basically the first time they’ve ever accessed that sort of natural outdoor space.”

We also heard from funders - individuals, trusts and businesses - about why they chose to support the Thriving in Nature Fund. As well as a donor into the fund, we are hugely grateful to RWK Goodman for sponsoring the event.

➡️ Read the latest progress report to find out about the work of grassroots organisations funded in 2024 and 2025 - https://buff.ly/3F686Lc

01/06/2026

Thank you to all our amazing volunteers – for bringing such warmth, gentle support, and patience.

Our volunteers turn up week after week making the recovery service a place of consistency that people can depend on.

Garden volunteers, minibus drivers, event volunteers, admin volunteers – we simply could not do it without you.

Thank you!

27/05/2026

A message to our amazing volunteers – thank you so much for everything you do to make Bridewell thrive. Your patience, compassion, and dedications are an inspiration.

The main reason we so rarely have vacancies in our volunteering team, is that volunteers tend to dedicate many years to supporting the Recovery Service, it’s unusual for spaces to come up.

We’re drawing up plans so that more people can volunteer with Bridewell, in particular supporting projects in the wider community so that gardens and gardening can make a difference for people recovering from serious mental health conditions. It’s early days, but keep in touch through our newsletter if you’d like to find out more.

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14/05/2026

May is a glorious time of year to come and visit the gardens. Come and enjoy a feast for the senses in our beautiful site – colourful flowers everywhere you look and amazing blossom scents as you explore.

We will be throwing the gates open to the public at 11am until 4pm on Sunday May 17th.

As usual we will have our pop-up café selling delicious treats and Bridewell plants and products on sale in the vineyard including our sparkling wine.

We’d love to see you. Please help us spread the word – tell your friends and family. Feel free to bring your dog (on a lead please) and especially your kids who will enjoy searching for our chickens, cat and resident (if shy) newts.

Suggested donation £5 per person 😊

11/05/2026

Missed your chance to buy our delicious sparkling wine at our April Open Day? Fear not!

This Saturday 16th May we will be selling it at the Witney Festival of Food & Drink running from 10am to 4.30pm inside St Mary’s Church, Witney and outside on the green.

The Bridewell stall will be inside the church. We will be offering tastings of the wine so you can try before you buy if you wish.

Even if you’re not buying our wine we’d love to see you and say hello if you’re visiting. It’s a lovely event – come and explore!

See here for further info and a list of stallholders: https://www.wfofad.co.uk/

And if you can’t make Witney on the Saturday then our May Open Day comes hot on the heels of this event the next day – Sunday May 17th – so another chance to purchase delicious Bridewell produce in the gardens.

01/05/2026