Peterborough’s very own Green Backyard

Right in the centre of Peterborough there beats a green heart. For the past six years the Green Backyard project has been bringing people together while promoting a more sustainable vision of the future. Benedict Vanheems went to take a look

The Green Backyard project defies expectations of where you might imagine a community growing project to be located. Overlooked by a block of flats, next to a fast food restaurant and across the way from the Peterborough United Football Club, this verdant paradise isn’t tucked away at the edge of the city but lies instead at its beating heart. The East Coast Main Line railway runs along one side of the plot, making it a highly visible location to the thousands of people that whizz past every day. It’s this central location that has helped the project progress from humble beginnings to today’s fully-fledged charity with ambitious plans for the future. Since its establishment in 2009 it has grown in many ways: through its impact on the local lives it’s touched, in its reputation and, of course, through the incredible fruit and veg produced on site.

‘It is important we acknowledge how far we’ve come from humble beginnings in a short space of time. We are continually becoming a more professional and stronger organisation and this year we recruited our first full-time employee, with two more employees set to start in the new year. The charity is managed by eleven talented and motivated trustees. Given long-term security of tenure The Green Backyard can attract a huge amount of investment into this city, increase the reach of its charitable work, and help support local services that are under pressure.’

Rich Hill, Chair, The Green Backyard Board of Trustees

Taking root
The Green Backyard (GBY) is the brainchild of father and daughter team Renny and Sophie Antonelli. Renny is a lifelong allotment owner with a particular interest in how gardening can improve people’s wellbeing. It was his passion that sowed the seeds for the site, as Sophie explains: ‘My dad always had an allotment. He was also a carpenter and ran family carpentry sessions, while working with adults with learning disabilities. One day he started teaching from his allotment and found it was a really effective place for people to learn.’

The popularity of his work took off and Renny expanded from one to six allotments. ‘Then the council stepped in and said that while they were very supportive of what he was doing, an allotment site wasn’t really the place to do it. So they helped him identify the current plot of land, suggesting that its central location would be the ideal place for a community garden. It was at this point that I left my job in education in Brighton to return to Peterborough to help my dad set up the project.’

The Green Backyard has grown, literally, into a much-loved community feature

The site that the GBY sits on has a rich history. In a sense it has always had a connection with food. In 1439 King Henry VI bestowed the right to hold a fair to the Abbott of Peterborough and in the centuries that followed the area played host to livestock fairs. Then as the site became increasingly fragmented, the remaining open space became allotments, playing a major role in the Dig For Victory campaign of the Second World War. Then 25 years ago the allotment holders were moved on to make way for development – development which never came. The site remained a forgotten, unloved space until Renny and Sophie came along.

Everyone and anyone was welcome to come along and get involved – an ethos that remains to this day

Unfazed by two acres of overgrown wilderness, the dynamic duo set about publicising the launch of their community garden, inviting local volunteers to an official opening in January 2009. Everyone and anyone was welcome to come along and get involved – an ethos that remains to this day. Slowly but surely the derelict site transformed into a productive community allotment and centre for sustainable living and environmental awareness, all run and tended solely by volunteers.

Green lungs
Colour is something that’s everywhere; there’s a lot packed into the two acres. A wildflower meadow established with the help of conservation trust Buglife brings a rush of colour and texture during the summer months. Traditional arable wildflowers such as poppies, cornflowers and corn-cockle combine with wild carrot and daisies to create a very special atmosphere alive with bees and other pollinating insects. A large wildlife pond dug by offenders on the Community Payback Scheme and planted with help from Peterborough-based charity Froglife has drawn in wildlife from day one, ‘though we haven’t had any frogs yet due to some particularly… [cont]