The urban greenspace that has become a community sanctuary
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s North Cornwall’s largest town, Newquay is blessed with beautiful beaches and fresh Atlantic air. It’s also lucky to have a seven-acre “urban greenspace” in Newquay Orchard, which has grown organically and exponentially since 2015 to offer everything from fresh produce and horticultural skills to a shared workspace, makers’ studio and community café. Follow the espaliered walkway, and find yourself surrounded by Cornish apples, bees buzzing around lavender, vibrant poppies. The place just teems with life, and shouts its ethos from the rooftops: sustainability, healthy eating, field to fork. Ultimately, it’s a sanctuary, a space to breathe and escape, with volunteering and education at its heart. More than 800 volunteers have n 26 |
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passed through its gates, and in June, the orchard received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service - the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and the equivalent to an MBE. On July 19, His Royal Highness The Duke of Cornwall dropped in to see how the project has evolved over the last seven years. The orchard was built on Duchy land and links “old” Newquay with the Duchy’s own recent development at Nansledan. The Duke munched on a tasty homegrown mangetout as he chatted with those harvesting the produce in An Lowarth – The Garden in Cornish. It’s a long way from the boggy, disused field in which chief executive officer Luke Berkeley first met the Duke, armed with a big map and a big idea for the best community green
Issue 73 | August - September 2022
space in the UK. Luke had studied ecology at university, but was frustrated by the focus on “doomsday predictions” and poor use of green urban spaces. “The only course of action was to do something about it,” he tells me as we explore the extensive site, which is alive with play groups in the forest garden and carpenters in the craft workshop. The ramshackle shed has been replaced by Kowel Gwenen, a hi-tech and comfortable community building housing the orchard HQ as well as a co-working space and a café using produce grown on site to feed 34 employees and 150 volunteers. “It’s not a small operation anymore,” Luke agrees. “There are six enterprises under one umbrella – but our ethos still underpins everything we do.”
