Berinsfield boasts a new community garden, packed with wildflowers and featuring raised beds giving locals the chance to grow their own.
The opening of the Berinsfield Community Garden happened in driving rain on Wednesday 27 March.
Inspired by local resident Mike Light, designed by Soha and executed by John O’Conner Grounds Maintenance, the garden is on abandoned allotment ground where ‘man-height’ weeds had made the land impassable, as Mr Light recalls.
Now residents can relax while enjoying all the birds of a typical Oxfordshire garden nesting in two boundary hedges while the front side, on Fane Drive, is newly fenced and gated making it safe for children to watch the progress of the strawberry and onion plants they set into raised beds on opening day. The beds are designed so that even the less mobile can garden with ease. This is a garden for everyone.
Mike says the initiative took more than four years to be realised, with Soha resolving safety issues around Thames Water manholes before he could draw up plans. A pest controller with a passionate interest in the natural world, Mike already had the enthusiastic backing of local children and their parents who were members of his nature appreciation social media page ‘The Berry nature of it’. He says: “John O’Conner have sown the lawn with 24 species of wildflowers to bring colour nine months of the year, attracting insects, bees and birds. It won’t be many seasons before hedgehogs will join them and the garden will be a haven for wildlife, too.”
Robin Bennett, South Oxfordshire District Councillor for Berinsfield was present at the opening. He said: “I know how much work goes into a big vision project like this. Green areas are always welcome, and the accessible ‘living’ space which Soha has brought about here will be so very beneficial to the wellbeing and mental health of the whole community. This was an entirely Soha-funded initiative but I’d be pleased to help anyone with similar aspirations to contact the South Oxfordshire District Council’s Berinsfield Garden Village team to see how we can support.
“In the meantime, congratulations to Mike and Soha!”
John O’Conner Grounds Maintenance, Mike Light (cutting the ribbon) and members of Soha’s Wallingford Locality team
Sarah and Kym from Soha’s Wallingford Locality explain what wildflowers visitors can expect to spot later this year
Muddy planting fun!
The welcome plaque marking the opening