Connecting people, planet and place, The Gardeners’ House Penzance will become an important centre for the community, helping to improve mental and physical wellbeing. The renovated building will become a home to wellbeing workshops, green community projects and a sensory garden.
The team plans to create a welcoming and calm space to support the local community, especially those from disadvantaged situations - using the heritage of Cornwall’s natural environment past and present, to inspire people and support their wellbeing.
To help picture a typical day at the new Gardeners' House building when we reopen, we've imagined how our visitors and partners will use it. Take a look at the graphic we've created below.
The Gardeners’ House, a charity based in Penzance, received £2.2 million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, as well as a grant of £896,000 from the Penzance Town Deal fund to help realise their vision.
The project will also create a home for a unique archive of documents, books and illustrations. The ‘living archive’ collection will be made accessible to the public for the first time and highlights the history of Cornwall's natural heritage.
Donated by the Hypatia Trust, the ‘living archive’ showcases the achievements and stories from the last 200 years of the men and women connected to West Cornwall’s natural heritage. Its new home will mean that the important collection is safeguarded and preserved in Penzance so that the community, researchers and visitors can learn and be inspired by it.
The hope is that it will continue to grow and include items that reflect the
thoughts, feelings and experiences of people in the community today, particularly in response to the natural world and the climate emergency.
The Gardeners’ House renovation will also include a community art project led by artists Jane Darke and Andrew Tebbs, working with the community to create designs inspired by illustrations and objects from the archive. Local craftspeople will then be commissioned to recreate these designs in stone, metal and wood that will feature in the Sensory Garden.
The Sensory Garden, made possible by generous funding from the Tanner Phoenix Trust, will be created between the Gardeners’ House and Pengarth Day Centre. It will give a tranquil safe space where people can reconnect with nature and hopes to enhance the lives of older people, particularly those living with dementia.
The project will work in partnership with local community groups and organisations, including Sustainable Penzance, Earth’s Green Guardians, Hypatia Trust and Pengarth Day Centre.
You can also download the graphic here:
