Welcome to “the Barn” a New Garden Classroom at Roots and Shoots!
We are pleased to announce the completion of “the Barn”, a new classroom for horticultural studies at Roots and Shoots. Built as an extension of our original Apple Barn in a matching style from oak, and set on the site of an old pot shed, the new building enables our horticulture students to study in the heart of the gardens, nestled amongst the greenhouse, gravel beds and the Wild Garden.
Since Roots and Shoots’ beginning in 1982 we have taught horticulture, and in recent years its popularity on our Study Programme has skyrocketed. In 2021 we realised it was time for our Horticulture students to have their own larger, wheel-chair accessible classroom closer to where their practical gardening activities are located across our site, and we began to fundraise for it, beginning with £25,000 donated from a generous local supporter, £5000 from long-time supporter John Hibberd as a gift in his will, £4000 from friends of Corrine Edwards in her memory, and £2500 from Friends of Roots and Shoots.
We then received funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, the Wates Foundation and the Whitaker Charitable Trust, with additional contributions from the London Gardeners Network, Aviva, Visa, AMED, Howden Group Holdings, Ipsos Mori, Solution Junkies and CLS, many of whom were inspired to support us following a day of corporate volunteering, knowing that their donations would make a difference. Enormous thanks to our many supporters for all their generous contributions, we couldn't do it without you!
As with all of our buildings, we knew it had to be sustainably built and run in line with our earth-friendly ethos. The Barn Classroom was built as an extension of the Apple Barn, which was originally built in 2002, and both of which are made of sustainably-sourced oak in a traditional style, providing rustic charm to our urban gardens for many years to come. Unlike the Apple Barn which is a completely traditional barn-structure, the Barn Classroom was built more substantially with local skilled craftsmen, and is completely insulated, with solar panels on the roof generating electricity for heating, IT and lighting, with any excess being put back into the national grid. Rainwater is collected from the roof and diverted into the Wild Garden to water the apple trees. With views of the Wild Garden and greenhouse, the classroom is a truly inspiring place for the horticulture students.
The additional space the new classroom provides has enabled us to team up with Bankside Open Spaces Trust (BOST) to run part of their Future Gardeners course, enabling adults to develop their horticultural skills and retrain for the green economy.
The classroom provides an excellent space for community activities, and has already been visited by a rabbit, a tortoise, three snakes and a lot of local children courtesy of WildScience, who were part of Roots and Shoots Goes Wild! this autumn.
