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Nature-friendly food growing project celebrates two years of success

Schoolchildren outdoors © Matthew Roberts

Over 3,500 pledges nationwide to create Coronation Gardens for Food & Nature

Today, The Wildlife Trusts, Women’s Institute (WI), Garden Organic and Incredible Edible are celebrating nature-friendly food growing efforts pledged across over 3,500 gardens nationwide. A nature-friendly school garden and wetland in Loddington, near Kettering, will be at the centre of the celebrations to mark two years of the UK-wide project, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A lasting legacy to King Charles’ love of nature and all things harvest, Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature has been working to empower local communities to breathe life back into their local greenspaces and grow sustainable food since 2023. As a result, over 3,500 Coronation Gardens have now been pledged across the UK where local people have been growing everything from vegetables and herbs to pollinator-friendly plants and fruit trees. The five features of a Coronation Garden are:

  • Grow healthy food to eat
  • Plant pollinator-friendly blooms
  • Create a water feature
  • Leave a patch of long grass or pile of logs
  • Go chemical and peat free
A group of school children with spades, smiling at the camera after planting trees

Tree planting with Loddington School © Matthew Roberts

At Loddington, philanthropist George Cornelius and local schoolchildren have teamed up to create a nature-friendly school garden and wetland which spans an impressive 4 miles. As a result of their efforts, which have included planting a community orchard, creating a herb garden and erecting a bird hide-come-outdoor-classroom, schoolchildren are now able to learn more about nature through ‘forest-school style’ learning.

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“Thanks to National Lottery players, special gardens across the UK will continue to grow from strength to strength, with a host of ideas and advice now available on the Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature website. From attracting bees and butterflies to your garden to growing windowsill microgreens, these simple guides promise to provide all the inspiration you need to get started.

“It seems fitting to be marking all that has been achieved so far as part of the Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature project at Loddington. The garden and wetlands created here demonstrate just what is possible when local people – including schoolchildren and local landowners – come together with a vision for nature, food-growing and community wellbeing. With harvest upon us, we’re delighted to be joining George Cornelius and the pupils at Loddington CE Primary School to see the fruits of their labour.”

With an estimated 24 million gardens in the UK - which make up nearly 30% of the total urban area – plus millions of balcony and window ledge plant pots, the power of nature-friendly food growing initiatives is huge.

The food and nature garden at Loddington is one of many unique gardening projects across the UK which has pledged to grow food in a nature-friendly way, enhancing nature and boosting local community wellbeing. Others include:

  • Workplace and school gardens bringing staff and students together
  • A Nottinghamshire canal-side community garden used by boat-dwellers
  • Edible-hedges and planters around a parish church in Crewe
  • A raised planter garden tucked away behind a multistorey carpark in Dover
  • Window boxes, balcony gardens and allotments proving that you don’t need a garden of your own to grow food

Research carried out by the project(1) found significant benefits for community well-being, nature restoration and local economies as a result of these efforts. The project’s report(1) calls on councils across the nation to increase their ambition and support for local food growing efforts in the hope that even more community initiatives can take root nationwide.

Editor's notes

1: Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature: community food growing research report

About Coronation Gardens for food and nature

Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature combines the experience of The Wildlife Trusts, Incredible Edible, Garden Organic and the Women's Institutes to create a lasting legacy. Our goal is for individuals and communities to pledge to grow fruit and vegetables sustainably, while also helping nature along the way. Inspired by King Charles’ love for wildlife-friendly gardening, over 3,500 Coronation gardens, window boxes and balconies have been created so far. The initiative will continue to support, educate and encourage people to grow sustainable food for local communities across the UK. Coronation Gardens | Home

About The Wildlife Trusts

The Wildlife Trusts are making the world wilder and helping to ensure that nature is part of everyone’s lives. We are a grassroots movement of 46 charities with more than 910,000 members and 35,000 volunteers. No matter where you are in Britain, there is a Wildlife Trust inspiring people and saving, protecting and standing up for the natural world. With the support of our members, we care for and restore special places for nature on land and run marine conservation projects and collect vital data on the state of our seas. Every Wildlife Trust works within its local community to inspire people to create a wilder future – from advising thousands of landowners on how to manage their land to benefit wildlife, to connecting hundreds of thousands of school children with nature every year. www.wildlifetrusts.org

About the WI

The WI is the largest women’s organisation in the UK and is committed to being a trusted place for all women of all generations, to share experiences and learn from each other.

For 110 years, the WI movement has been instrumental in achieving positive change for women and for society. Their vision is to create a world where women can join together to foster friendship and become active citizens, influencing change to improve lives in their local, national and global communities. www.nfwi.org.uk.

About Incredible Edible 

Incredible Edible’s vision is to create kind, confident and connected communities through the power of food. If you eat, you’re in.

About Garden Organic

Through campaigning, advice, community work, conservation and research, sustainable gardening charity Garden Organic helps gardeners cultivate a healthier, more biodiverse and sustainable world. Follow @gardenorganicuk.

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.

Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities. www.heritagefund.org.uk

Follow @HeritageFundUK on X/Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLottery #HeritageFund

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