Centre for Wildlife Gardening

28 Marsden Road SE15 4EE, Open Sunday to Thursday inclusive, 10.30 to 16.30. No charge

We are members of the London Wildlife Trust, which runs the Centre for Wildlife Gardening (CWG), but it was word-of-mouth from a volunteer at Christchurch Community Garden that made us aware. We visited on London Marathon Day, passing through a crowded Blackheath Station on our way to Peckham Rye Station.

Marsden Road itself is remarkable: its houses all along have designer ironwork gates & railings on wildlife themes, and each lamppost has a ‘squirrel’ high above. These, and the wildlife-themed iron gates to CWG, were designed by Heather Burrell: bollards at the entrance and within were designed by Antony Gormley: a gable-end has a large mural of a Goshawk.

The site is a former Council depot, all on a concrete base which remains, and the project has created a seemingly endless number of raised beds to a variety of designs and purposes, together with ponds – one an old bath-tub. The visitor centre has a green roof, as do many of the sheds.

Recycling is a theme, composting is a theme, including a Wormery, and public education is the purpose of the Centre which is also office space for London Wildlife Trust. We were shown round by staff member Sophie, newly arrived from Northern Ireland: her colleague Diana Wallace arranges any number of public engagement/family education/volunteer sessions at the Centre. They also have been ‘adopted’ by a local cat – not related to OPG’s Casper, so far as we know, and equally non-resident.

It takes time to walk around and to study the variety of mini-habitats: chalk bank, wildflower meadow, woodland copse, herb garden, stag beetle sanctuary, insect beds, permaculture beds, dry beds, marshy beds, willow fences, rainwater collection – and artwork including mosaics, more mosaics, a smaller wrought-iron commemorative gate, bats and butterflies.

We unexpectedly came across a section presented as ‘The Renter’s Retreat’ Garden designed by Zoe Claymore for the Hampton Court Flower Show in July 2023. It appears that some of the garden, particularly the galvanised containers, were donated to the Centre after the Show. We’re interested in finding out more about it because it won Zoe a Gold Medal, was the Best Get Started Garden and the People’s Choice Garden, and it stimulated a lot of interest at the time in how to encourage renters into gardening and supporting wildlife.

What was on display was not the garden as shown at Hampton Court with its interesting range of flowers and fancy seating, but its supporting of wildlife and sustainability with habitats for minibeasts, etc in line with the ethos of the Wildlife Trusts.

We enjoyed our visit to the Centre. It was helpful to go in April as the structure of the whole area is clearer but we will go again to see how it develops in other seasons. We might avoid London Marathon Day next time though!

Lynda & Joe F