Devon community green projects make BBC awards final — SkimNews
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- Growing Well Garden uses gardening as a therapeutic tool in social prescribing, helping NHS GP Dr Susan Taheri connect with patients outside clinical settings.
- Shallowford Farm makes rural life accessible by teaching young people hands-on food production, led by retired horticulturalist Charles Staniland.
- Sampford Peverell Tree Wardens maintain public trees and hedges through volunteer efforts, fostering community pride with local landowners and councils.
- Sustainable Hatherleigh boosts biodiversity and resilience via bug hunts, wildflower planting, composting, and a repair café, earning county wildlife site status.
- Dr Susan Taheri, founder of Growing Well Garden, says the outdoor setting rekindled her passion for general practice and serves as her 'happy place'.
- Charles Staniland emphasizes that Shallowford Farm helps youth transition from urban environments and understand where food comes from through physical engagement.
- Jo Pullin of Sustainable Hatherleigh and Pete Drew of Sampford Peverell Tree Wardens are among the finalists advancing community-led environmental action in Devon.
Why it matters: These projects shift environmental action from policy to practice, directly improving mental health, local ecology, and intergenerational knowledge—proving small-scale, community-driven efforts can achieve measurable ecological and social outcomes without top-down funding or mandates.
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