Official Opening of the Chelsea Flower Show Microbiome Garden with Bowel
Research UK, Designers Chris Hull, Sid Hill, Ambassadors, and Special Guests

The Apricot Centre, Totnes, Devon

Join us for the official opening of the Microbiome Garden at the Apricot Centre, a unique event celebrating the relocation of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show's Microbiome Garden. This garden, designed by the talented duo Chris Hull and Sid Hill, explores the fascinating link between a healthy landscape, a healthy gut, and a healthy mind.

The Journey to the Apricot Centre

In November, Sid Hill approached the Apricot Centre with the generous offer to relocate the garden after its debut at the Chelsea Flower Show in May. We were thrilled to accept, unaware of just how special this garden would be. By the end of May, the garden was skilfully relocated with the Chelsea team working alongside our dedicated volunteer asylum seekers from Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support. These volunteers have been tirelessly landscaping the well-being garden since January 2024 to accommodate the Microbiome Garden.

The Microbiome Garden: A Fusion of Health and Nature

The Bowel Research UK Microbiome Garden, designed by Sid Hill and Chris Hull, is a pioneering project that highlights the connection between ecological health and human well-being. The garden features an edible meadow inspired by wild meadows, combining ornamental grasses and edible perennials to create a rich tapestry of colours and textures.

Key plants include:

- **Deschampsia cespitosa**

- **Sesleria autumnalis**

- **Briza media**

- **Hordeum jubatum**

- **Persicaria Bistorta**

- **Camassia quamash**

- **Lupinus luteus**

These plants not only enhance the garden's beauty but also offer significant gut health benefits, promoting a diverse and healthy microbiome.

Handcrafted Sculptural Features

The garden includes an oak sculptural wall, hand-carved and scorched by Sid, Chris, and the team from Atlantes Landscapes, symbolising the human bowel. This wall meanders through the garden, leading to a hexagonal timber shelter, 'The Hive', made from Douglas fir and Cedar. The Hive serves as a gathering space for food preparation and refuge from the elements.

The Designers: Chris Hull and Sid Hill

Chris Hull brings over 16 years of experience in horticulture and garden design. A regular presenter on the BBC TV show Garden Rescue, Chris is known for his sustainable garden designs that use locally sourced materials and diverse plantings. He holds a BSc Hons in Garden Design from Sparsholt College and has received numerous accolades, including the Pro Landscaper’s ‘30 Under 30 Award.’

Sid Hill has been gardening since the age of 10 and has 15 years of experience managing a landscape business. He holds a 1st Class Honours degree in Ethnobotany & Landscape Design from the Eden Project. Sid's work has received international recognition, and he is dedicated to creating landscapes that support biodiversity, grow food ecologically, and improve people's lives.

Bowel Research UK and Project Giving Back

Bowel Research UK is a national charity funding life-changing research into bowel cancer and other bowel diseases. The charity's mission is to save and improve lives by investing in cutting-edge treatments. The Microbiome Garden is part of their initiative to raise awareness about the importance of gut health.

Project Giving Back (PGB) is a unique grant-making charity that funds gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Launched in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, PGB aims to help UK-based charities recover by providing them with a platform to raise awareness of their work.

Hannah Walker

Hannah Walker is a highly experienced HCPC registered dietitian, plant-based cookery teacher, and foraging leader based in Totnes. With a background in paediatric dietetics from her NHS work in London, she addresses nutritional issues like malnutrition, weight management, digestive problems, and food allergies. She also supports autistic children and their families with aversive eating behaviors and nutritional deficiencies.

Hannah's holistic approach to nutrition emphasizes a connection to nature and nutritious food. She leads community cooking and foraging courses, advocating for plant-based diets and zero waste cooking. Her motto, "eat the rainbow," promotes a diverse and colorful diet.

A key focus of Hannah's work is the gut microbiome. She integrates research on gut health, highlighting the importance of pulses, fibres, and plant-based foods in modulating the gut microbiota. She believes a healthy gut biome improves digestion, reduces inflammation, and enhances mental well-being, principles she incorporates into her classes and courses.

A Lasting Legacy

Following its debut at the Chelsea Flower Show, the Microbiome Garden has found a new home at the Apricot Centre. This sustainable farm helps children and families understand the fundamental link between soil health, food, habitat, and human well-being. The garden will continue to inspire and educate visitors about the importance of a healthy gut and its impact on mental and physical health.

Event Highlights

**Garden Tour:** Explore the beautifully relocated Microbiome Garden.

**Educational Talks:** Learn about the creation of the garden and the importance of gut health.

 **Farm Walk** Experience regenerative farming and its reflection on gut biome diversity.

**Family-Friendly Activities:** Children are welcome to enjoy a space of magic, inspiration, creativity, and play.

**Tifa's Sensory Path and Pebble Beach** Paint a pebble to add to the beach.

Please note that dogs are not allowed at this event.

This is a free event though donations will be welcome, click here to book.

We look forward to welcoming you to this special event and sharing the wonders of the Microbiome Garden with you.

To Welcome the Chelsea Flower Show Microbiome Garden designed by Sid Hill and Chris Hull we are holding a Public Picnic at the Apricot Centre

We would love to see you up at the Farm to come and picnic together and to see the (partially installed!) Microbiome Garden. It would be lovely to see Children there and how they respond to the garden.

The Wellbeing Garden was originally designed by permaculture students to inspire children and families who visit the Apricot Centre, and more recently this will be complemented by an extraordinary Microbiome Garden, flowers and plants good for the gut bacteria and wildlife are soon to be planted! The Microbiome Garden is currently being installed at the Chelsea Flower Show, and by the picnic will have been relocated to the Apricot Centre. And amazing feat of organisation supported by Project Giving Back

The Microbiome garden was designed for Bowel Research UK and funded by Project Giving Back. There will be an official public opening on Saturday 27th July.

An Apricot Centre Hamper Raffle will raise funds to support the considerable relocation fees incurred by the Chelsea Team! So please buy tickets if you are able to alongside booking your picnic. You can bring your own or you can pre-order as part of this ticket. The picnic hamper will be full of gut-friendly-goodies and the winner can collect at a later time of their choosing.

Come and picnic with a billion other microorganisms! 

As we share picknicking together, it will be an opportunity for us to talk about how how plants, microbes, and our own health are all connected. It's going to be a really fun way to feel like we're part of something bigger. We like to think that all the microorganisms will be munching away in the Soil and in our Bellies complimented by the edible flowers planted by Sid and Chris. Their "edible meadow" will combine a selection of plants including Persicaria bistorta, Camassia and Lupinus luteus, which will create a rich tapestry of yellows, blues and pinks.  

If you are interested in the Macrobiome Microbiome relationship - A Farm Walk will take place during the afternoon. And we hope also to have a Talk about the making of the garden and the Microbiome.

You can also order a picnic for either 2 or 4 people online. You are welcome to bring your own hamper/food with you and your family to enjoy some time in the wellbeing space. Booking is required even if you are bringing your own picnic.

To book please click here

Please no dogs, car parking available at the Steiner School (for a £1 donation) or Meadowbrook with a 15 min off road walk. Please contact louise.hoskins@apricotcentre for accessibility parking. 

Earth Education is a model for teaching and experiencing the natural world through playful activities which engage the senses. In the Earthwalks training you will learn group activities that use all the senses to widen your knowledge through observation and felt experience.

Lead by Mark Jefferys who has been involved with the Earth Education Institute for over 30 years. He will guide you in this day training and at the end you will be fully equipped with how to lead an Earthwalk by experiencing it all first hand.

This training will take place outside for it’s entirety so please dress appropriately, it can still be a bit chilly in March and please bring anything you need to be comfortable sitting. Please bring a packed lunch, refreshments will be provided.

Prices are £85 for an individual, £105 for a charity, £130 for a corporation.

To book or to ask for more information, please email louise.hoskins@apricotcentre.co.uk

We are welcoming back our seasonal market this year on the 9th of December 10am-2pm. Craft stalls and our own veg on sale. We will also be selling soup, cake, and teas to enjoy around a fire. Children can make bird feeders and there will be a farm and a wellbeing tour throughout the day.

Parking is limited so please consider parking at Meadowbrook and walking. There is a 10 min off road footpath that will bring you right to the door.

Maisie and Lucy, our flower growers and bunching extraordinaires will be running a dried flower wreath making workshop. All flowers grown, handpicked and dried at Huxhams Cross Farm.

More details here

Apple day is a morning devoted to apples! You can taste up to 15 different varieties, do some juicing, eat apple cake, or both. Activities for children include apple printing, apple games. There is also a Farm Tour at 11am.

If the car park at the Apricot Centre is full, or you are able then please consider parking at either Meadowbrook, The Cider Press Centre (2 hours free) or for a £1 donation, The Steiner School, these are all a 10 min walk on an off road footpath.

The Bioblitz is hosted at the Apricot Centre for the Heart of Dartington. A fun afternoon of community citizen-science, appreciating and recording biodiversity and wildlife at the Heart of Dartington. Join Prof Bill Sutherland CBE (Miriam Rothschild Professor of Conservation Biology) and Nicola Crockford (RSPB) with other local ecologists, enthusiasts and experts. A Bioblitz is a public event aimed at recording as many different types of flora and fauna as possible in this case with experts in the field alongside citizen science and people with interest and passion in the community.

Please notes: Main Event on Farm is 1-5pm, but there are activities listed in the morning, late afternoon (Meadowbrook) and evening (Bat walk)

(We kindly request that no dogs are brought to the farm)

Getting there: There is limited parking available at the farm so, if you can, we encourage you to walk or cycle from South Devon Steiner School Car Park (TQ9 6TQ) or Meadowbrook Car Park (TQ9 6JD) . There will be a limited number of parking spaces at the Apricot Centre for people with access issues. There is a map below which shows the walking routes and times from these car parks. Our Address is: The Apricot Centre, Huxhams Cross Farm, Rattery Lane, Dartington. TQ9 6AA.

Bioblitz gathering place - We will identify what is found in and around the Apricot Centre. Open Farm Walks will be woven in together with biodiversity walks during the day.

Food and refreshments will be available on sale from 1-4pm at the Farm Venue. Scrumptious food foraged and cooked up by our fabulous Hannah Walker - Forager, Dietician and Nutritionist

iNaturalist - Download the app and start taking photos in advance and during the Bioblitz

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/dartington-devon-bioblitz-may-2023

The Heart of Dartington has been funded by Dartington Parish Council to enable local members of the community have an opportunity to visit Martin Crawford's research sites. So many local say that despite living here they haven't managed to visit before. Here is your chance - Also open to non-locals!

This is an invitation to book at a lower rate than usual. Why not do this in the morning and then come straight on to the Bioblitz at the Apricot Centre Farm.

Martin Crawford's Littlehempston Agroforestry Research site - No dogs please.

This is our newest site, obtained in 2011, covering 11 acres. The tour here takes in three new forest gardens (a small garden started in 2012, a medium sized garden in 2013, and forest garden to maximise carbon storage started in 2019/20), our forest garden greenhouse (started 2016) with a subtropical forest garden being established inside, experimental coppice plantings, and the nursery.

You only need to book adult places on this tour. Accompanied children come for free.

Directions

Directions to ART Littlehempston siteNearest postcode TQ9 6NA1 kmLat/long: 50.458361, -3.677006What3words: advantage.appealing.down

Please access the detailed Map of how to get to the Littlehempston site here. https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/research-site-tours/

This event is linked to the Dartington Bioblitz Day

SEPTEMBER 2022 - FEBRUARY 2021
£864 INCL VAT FOR 12 DAYS OVER 6 WEEKENDS

Concessions may be available upon request

The Apricot Centre Permaculture Design Course is a part-time, non-residential course that takes place over 6 weekends between September 2021 - February 2022, making it perfect for those wishing to study whilst working or who have other commitments.

The course runs in bite-sized chunks so that you can digest the information and self-study between the sessions. The course is unique in that it is based at Huxhams Cross Farm which has biodynamic status. The farm is a demonstration permaculture site and a rare example of farm-scale permaculture in action; this enables us to show practical examples of permaculture on-site as well as visiting other permaculture designed sites in South Devon.

Our Permaculture Design Course uses creative and practical teaching methods to enable you to develop and experience the principles and practices of permaculture design, with emphasis on guiding you to design in groups and individually with support from your tutors. This structure equips you with the skills to go on to design and implement your own larger farms, smallholding, community gardens, or even your back garden.

The 12-day course covers:

• Permaculture principles & ethics

• Renewable energy & sustainable building

• Simple vegetable growing and fruit growing

• Soil management & fertility

• Forest gardening

• Simple livestock management

• Transition movement

• Design skills

• Visits to inspirational sites

This course is not residential

Dates for this course are:-

9 and 10 Sept

7 and 8 Oct

11 and 12 Nov

2 and 3 Dec

13 and 14 Jan

10 and 11 Feb

The course is run by Marina O’Connell and Bob Mehew, the doctors of the Apricot Centre. Bob is a project manager and has managed the development of the Huxhams Cross Farm from its start, he is an expert in using permaculture design for projects and business development.

Marina O’Connell is a horticulturalist, permaculture designer, tutor, and biodynamic farmer. She has over 30-years of experience in training and growing in sustainable food systems.

Rachel Phillips is an Ethnobotanist, Educator and Nature Connection Practitioner

Bob Mehew is a project manager and has managed the development of the Huxhams Cross Farm from its start, he is an expert in using permaculture design for projects and business development.