Edible Estates: Brookwood Estate

Tate Modern commissioned Fritz Haeg to create an Edible Estate in London as part of the Global Cities Exhibition in 2007. The Edible Estate has been created at Brookwood House Estate and is entirely made up of edible plants. The site was chosen to combine Southwark, one of the least green areas in London, with Fritz Haeg scheme to replace lawn with edible landscapes.

Growing Communities

A group of us went to Castle Climbing Centre in Hackney to help set up a new community garden on the surrounding land. Growing Communities is an organisation run by local people. The idea was to enable people in the city to obtain their food directly from a sustainably run farm close to London, but this has evolved with increased interest in growing organic vegetables in the city. Now Growing Communities is always looking for new land to set up more community gardens and Castle Climbing Centre is one of them.
When we arrived we were set to work digging up the compacted ground, getting it ready for future use. We were there for hours but it was great fun getting involved in a worthwhile scheme, and surprisingly it didn't seem like hard work.

Bonnington Square

For focus week I wanted to research deeper into my dissertation. My main aim was to visit my case studies; Bonnington Square, an Edible Estate in Southwark and to try and set up interviews.
Bonnington Square was the first case study I visited. I went to have a look at the secret community garden and central square, but what I found more interesting and more in keeping with my dissertation was how the residents of Bonnington Square have taken over their street using plants. As I was approaching Bonnington Square from South Lambeth Road, I started to notice different types of plants instead of those normally found at the base of trees. As I entered Bonnington Square I saw planting overflowing onto the paths and up telephone poles, and bins were taken over by bay trees and rosemary. This creates a community feel, softens the architecture and shows that people care about where they live and that they want to create a sanctuary in the centre of London. Bonnington Square showed me the benefits of creating your own environment; a happy community, taking pride in where they live.