Garden Details
Core Arts Community Gardens
The Garden
These three beautifully planted gardens support biodiversity, foster connections in the local community, promote positive mental health, and showcase replicable climate change mitigation techniques. Situated in the streets around the Core Arts Centre, this medley of green spaces comprises: a roof garden; a garage garden; seven tree pits and seven street planters along Wardle Street; Core Arts small garden on St Barnabas Terrace; a 60m-long meadow strip and community orchard in nearby Homerton Grove; and Core Arts large community garden and plant nursery behind St Barnabas church on Homerton High Street. The gardens boast food and herb growing, herbaceous borders, wild areas, a plant nursery, event space, sheltered teaching space and a beautiful polypod.Core Landscapes began in 2009 as a 'meanwhile' project, and the garden has been relocated four times across three boroughs in the last ten years using temporarily available land. The gardens have embraced imaginative planting design, harvesting and diverting rainwater, composting, greening up organically and using solar-powered irrigation systems wherever they have been based.
Core Landscapes' volunteers, students and staff care for all the gardens and are part of the award-winning mental health charity Core Arts. Core Arts is a not-for-profit Social Business that promotes positive mental health and wellbeing through creative learning, providing quality education, training, employment and social enterprise initiatives that enable people who experience mental health issues to overcome barriers, fulfil their potential and participate fully in their community. The charity uses horticulture to transform underused sites in deprived urban areas into hubs for community engagement through horticulture, design, workshops, training and events – improving mental and physical health, overall wellbeing and community cohesion.
At London in Bloom 2024, Core Arts gardens received Outstanding and Gold awards, won the Biodiversity category, and received the Trustees Award. The gardens also received a Green Flag award for 2024/25 and a Greener Hackney Award, and the team has been nominated for Best Volunteer Group 2025.
Core Landscapes Project Director: Nemone Mercer
Further information on London Parks & Gardens Inventory
Visitor Information
- Open
-
Saturday 12:00–17:00
- Activities
- Acoustic music sets, bargain plant hunting, and children's activities. Inspiration for gardeners growing anywhere. An Art Show will be in the adjacent Core Arts centre with artwork for sale and a licensed bar. Under the roof garden there will be cake and plant sales, tea, coffee, cold drinks. Children's art and activities will be in the small garden on St Barnabas Terrace.
- Picnics allowed.
- Entrance
- The entrance to the roof garden on Wardle Street; continue round to the smaller garden on St Barnabas Terrace. Entrance to Core Arts community garden behind St Barnabas church is from Homerton High Street E9 6DL. The three gardens are minutes apart from each other.
Homerton Grove is nearby with its meadow strip and orchard.
Disabled toilet inside the Core Arts centre access from 109 Homerton High Street.
Nearest postcode: E9 6DJ - Buses
- Map of nearby bus stops
- Station
- Homerton (No service 7-8/6/25)
- Toilets
- Disabled toilet on site
- Access
- Both ground level gardens are wheelchair and buggy accessible. Core Arts community garden has a gravel path into the garden with flat paths around the site. Steps up to the roof garden (no lift).
- Dogs
- Dogs on leads
