Volunteers from Walton Charity’s Community Allotment were thrilled to scoop first prize in the Community Allotment category at Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival earlier this month.

Our Green Spaces Manager, Karen Heynike, garden designer Victoria Mitchell, and the team of volunteers rolled up their sleeves and worked incredibly hard to create a mini replica of their allotment, complete with knitted bugs, butterflies and vegetables – replicating the yarn bombing* that created a real buzz at the real community allotment earlier this year.

The community allotment, in Walton on Thames, is a special place where people from all walks of life come together to socialise and learn new skills. Some of the participants are retired, but many face barriers because of mental or physical health conditions or social isolation. The allotment provides a supportive space for people to join in group activities and feel more connected to their community and it provided a lifeline for many of the volunteers during the pandemic.

This isn’t the first time the Community Allotment volunteers have entered the Garden Festival. They entered the Vegetable Box category back in 2017 winning them a silver medal, giving a huge confidence boost to those who took part.

If you would like to learn more about our community allotment and availability of our land and green spaces for local people and community groups, click here: www.waltoncharity.org.uk/green-spaces.

*A yarn bomb is a form of street art where yarn in any form decorates an object in the public environment. Yarn installations are a bit like graffiti but aren’t permanent or destructive. The craze was started in America by a lady named Magda Sayeg when she covered her doorknob with a knitted cosy and before long started knitting scarves and hats for statues around her hometown in Houston.