A Lichfield environmental improvement project, supported by our PEBBLE fund, will feature in the BBC2 series “Britain in Bloom”.

Dovehouse Community Garden was once a piece of unused scrubland until the community were able to improve it with funding including a PEBBLE grant.

The grant, and other funding, enabled them to clear half the ground for community cultivation and build community facilities. They built a shelter with grey-water run-off to irrigate the plots, plus a urinal with willow weaved shelter and run-off to a reed bed. The project has hugely improved the biodiversity of the site and the new facilities have enabled local residents to come together for activities and events.

The project took place during the spring and summer of 2018 and was part of the gold award-winning Lichfield entry in the Heart of England in Bloom competition.

The TV crew from “Britain in Bloom” filmed at several sites in the city in spring 2018. They followed up in mid-summer as the competition judges arrived to make their decision, visiting Dovehouse Community Garden, as well as Swinfen Hall Hotel with its newly constructed Victorian-style greenhouse, Beacon Park’s formal display, the gardens associated with Swan Mews, Netherstowe Allotments, St Chad’s churchyard and Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust’s Garden of Reflection, at Gallows Wharf.

The new series of the BBC2 show begins in the spring and the Lichfield episode, featuring Dovehouse Gardens, will air at 6.30pm on Thursday 4 April.