BBC Gardener’s World presenter, garden designer and author, Adam Frost, surprised the children of Trellech Primary school when he dropped by as they celebrated the completion of their new allotment area.
Adam helped some of the children from years 4, 5 and 6 plant seed potatoes.
He said “I am thrilled to have been able to be part of this celebration. Encouraging children to get into the garden from an early age is something I really support. The children told me how much they enjoy spending time gardening and growing fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers.
The whole of the school grounds are being transformed with, as I understand it, much more planned for the future. Who knows, maybe one day, one of these children will be winning gold medals at Chelsea.”
Head teacher Mrs Kate Peacock stated “We were blown away when Adam said he would come to our celebration event. We have been incredibly fortunate to have received funding and/or resources from ACE Monmouth and Keep Wales Tidy over the last two years. Our gardening volunteers have worked with every child in the school to develop what we have today. I’m very grateful to all who have been involved to date.”
Keep Wales Tidy Monmouthshire Project Officer said “We have enjoyed working closely with the school and volunteers to deliver this amazing Local Places for Nature project which is fully funded by Welsh Government and administered by Keep Wales Tidy. It is obvious how much the children have enjoyed their involvement and learnt new skills helping to make and fill raised beds, plant an orchard and create new wildlife habitats in their school grounds. This is a real legacy project which will enable the school to include gardening activities in the curriculum for years to come.”
ACE Monmouth have supported the school through funding and advice. Charles Emes chair of ACE Monmouth, added “This is exactly the type of activity we want to support. Gardening using organic principles. Seeing the children harvest produce and using the tools we have funded has been such a joy,”