Clare Hawkins, Chief Executive Officer of Stepney City Farm, writes:
The team down at Stepney City Farm have been kept busy during the last year; we’ve been developing an acre and a half of land which was recently reinstated to the Farm following ten years of occupation by Crossrail. The Farm is a flagship of environmental education in urban Tower Hamlets, and encouraging biodiversity is a key priority for the site. Over 200 metres of mixed native hedgerow has been planted around new animal fields, and a grant from the Greater London Authority secured the building of a fantastic new wildlife pond (see photo above) near our wildflower meadow. We also conducted a survey of invertebrates in summer 2021.
Many residents will also have noticed that the long-neglected ruin of the Baptist Chapel in the north-west corner of the Farm has been tidied up, and is being used as an area for additional bee hives. Over coming months, volunteers will be planting up around the ruin with bee-friendly, nectar-rich plants, and thanks to a grant from Ocean Regeneration Trust, visitors will soon see some new community beds being built for additional gardening projects.
We were delighted and very proud to be awarded a Green Flag Community Award in October 2021.
Check out some of the blogs on the Farm’s website for more information about these exciting developments:
