Gibraltar Terrace, on Chatham’s New Road was once the pride of Georgian Chatham, but today its pretty red brick façade looks out onto a starkly urban scene. Traffic on the busy A2 (the old London-Dover road) passes just a few feet from the elegant, arched front doors and windows and only a few of the properties here have front gardens to buffer them from its effects. This is the challenging … [Read more...]
The urban orchard with a twist
February 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment
As founder of the ecologically minded, not-for-profit, educational organisation, The Pop-Up Foundation (http://pop-up-foundation.org/), Paul Clarke (and his co-founder Alison Hall) are used to working in challenging locations – from setting up coffee growing projects in Uganda to nurturing inner city urban farms. For Planting Ideas, the Foundation’s Chelsea Fringe project, they have chosen … [Read more...]
And we’re off…
January 17, 2013 By 3 Comments
It was standing room only last night at the Garden Museum for the first general meeting of the Chelsea Fringe 2013. Despite the chill outside, the atmosphere inside the redundant church of St Mary at Lambeth was toasty warm – although this was perhaps down to the sheer body count as much as any conventional heat source - with a friendly congregation of gardening minded folk. A few of the 100 … [Read more...]
Front gardens project returns for a second Chelsea Fringe outing
January 7, 2013 By 1 Comment
When Naomi Schillinger was asked if she wanted to take part in last year’s Chelsea Fringe her initial feeling was that, with a book to finish and numerous other commitments, she wouldn’t have time. But it turned out that the community vegetable growing project she was already running on her home street in Finsbury Park was a Fringe candidate, chiming perfectly with the festival’s open … [Read more...]
Suddenly last summer
December 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The cold winter nights are getting longer and as the still point of the turning year approaches, now seems a good moment to return to those magical three weeks in May and June, when the inaugural Chelsea Fringe burst onto the scene. Pulsating with first growth vigour and brimming with fresh ideas, the Chelsea Fringe festival transformed the streets of London with its playful programme of pop-up … [Read more...]
The countdown has started
December 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
2012 was an auspicious year for the first ever Chelsea Fringe – with the spotlight of the world trained on London for the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics, the Fringe was a glorious celebration of something else we do very well in Britain: gardening. But while the London Olympics and the Jubilee were once in a lifetime events (and probably just as well – there’s only so much excitement the … [Read more...]
