UK: Uniting the Cambridge community through gardening
A bug hotel was created, providing a permanent home for small insects
By Moby Wells
Varsity
Apr 2, 2022
Excerpt:
Town and gown: the lack of connection between a university and the town it inhabits. At the centre of Parker’s Piece you will find ‘Reality Checkpoint’ as you walk into what is deemed the ‘real world’. For me, walking the streets of Cambridge is a process of discovery, in which I can gain glimpses into normality by way of windows, leaflets, and posters.
One such poster adorned the edge of a small community garden on Water Street, on the opposite side of the river to Stourbridge Common. My interest in gardens like this comes from running the Caius allotment society which, like Water Street, relies on the careful use of a small space. Anticipation building, I reached out to Stepan, who runs the garden.
Stepan is both a tutor and a member of the Community Engagement team within Cambridge City Council, and has previously volunteered for the Wildlife Trust. Having studied politics, he had not imagined that he would find himself setting up community gardens and liaising with allotment groups.
The Water Street Community Garden, once a patch of soil, grass and nettles, is now a thriving biodiversity hotspot in the heart of residential Cambridge. Thanks to the help of a number of volunteers, the completed Community Garden has had a transformative effect on the neatness and character of the street. Stepan largely worked with the Nature Reserve Officer of the City Council who recommended that the garden should mimic Cambridge’s natural habitats. Cambridge is special in having significant areas of chalkland grasslands, visible in places like Hobson’s Brook Local Nature Reserve (LNR), the source of Hobson’s Conduit, or the West Pit LNR, part of the Cherry Hinton chalk pits.
