Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust is a charity which manages the historic and biodiverse 45 acre Victorian garden cemetery of Arnos Vale, Bristol. Ecological management, education and public engagement are some of our key objectives and they inspired the decision to turn an abandoned and derelict corner of the Cemetery into a garden which would be enjoyed by groups and individuals from our local community and beyond.
We completed the garden in June 2019 and hope to engage several groups to get involved this year. The garden includes 12 raised beds of varying sizes, two of which will be accessible for wheelchair users, a wildlife pond and dipping platform, a small storage shed, several new fruit trees, a composting area, bird and bat boxes and plenty of flowering plants. Groups will be invited to plant native bulbs, herbs, annual and perennial flowers and shrubs in their allocated raised beds. Butterfly and bee-friendly plants will be encouraged, to create a garden which provides food and habitat for these beautiful insects which are so vital to good garden health and biodiversity.