The Missenden Walled Garden charity provides day support for people with disabilities or mental health issues based within the grounds of Missenden Abbey in Buckinghamshire. Our team of staff and volunteers help our ‘gardeners’ to grow and reach their potential at their own pace.
Our gardeners are referred to us from a variety of sources including Bucks Council, SEN Schools, other charities and private networks.
In everything we do we strive to enrich the lives of our gardeners through Work; Education and Community Engagement
Working in the garden appeals to a wide range of ages from 17 to 70+ years old. A typical day will include a mix of outdoor work and educational opportunities such as garden maintenance and mower operation, and indoor activities within our education centre and large glass houses including art and music. We also deliver external gardening contracts where we take small groups of gardeners into the community to maintain gardens.
The educational element of our work is critical as it provides our gardeners with a real sense of achievement and recognition for the effort they put in and delivers lasting impact, often helping to prepare for the next phase of their lives.
If you would like to visit the garden, you are welcome between 9:30am and 4pm, Monday to Friday
Data protection
We take your privacy and the protection of the data we hold very seriously. You can read our Data Protection and Privacy Policy here. If you have questions or concerns then please contact us
Key charity personnel for First Aid and Data Protection
- First Aid Trained: Our Operations Manager (Rob Thomas) and each of our employed care team are first aid trained
- Fire Warden: Our Operations Manager (Rob Thomas) or his deputy is our nominated Fire Warden
- Data protection
- Our Data Controller is Janet Oldknow – admin@missendenwalledgarden.org
Referrals
Our referral form for gardeners can be downloaded here
Can you help us?
Demand for our services is increasing and we now need to develop our site and extend the work we do. Can you offer support on the following?
- Volunteering: We would be delighted to speak with you if you have time to volunteer within the garden Monday to Friday, or if you could help in our fund raising activities at other times
- Constructing and equipping our education centre: We are delighted to announce that this project has now been paid in full. Our sincere thanks to all those who’ve been so generous in supporting us. The ‘Clubhouse’ is now open!
- Extending wheel chair access: We are concerned that suitable wheel chair access is currently restricted to 25% of our site. This is limiting our ability to support disabled adults while also limiting our engagement with the local community as visitors are often put off by the uneven and muddy nature of the surfaces. We aim to provide ‘environmentally and wheel-chair friendly’ paths linking all parts of the site
Please contact us to if you are able to help in any way
Donate via Just Giving: https://www.justgiving.com/missendenwalledgarden
Our team
- Rob, Christine, Anne, Annie, Lydia, Dave and a wonderful team of volunteers ensure each of our gardeners receives the support and attention they need every day
- Janet Oldknow provides invaluable administrative support in our office
Our history
The walled garden was run by Buckinghamshire Council as a centre for adults with disabilities but threatened with closure in 2017. A dedicated and passionate group of parents and local supporters stepped in to save the centre and run it as a charity. The rest, as they say, is history!