The Bishops Garden Project

The old palace’s walled garden now lies next door to the museum within the present grounds of the Bishop of St. David’s. Avid readers of this newsletter will remember mention that the Diocese would now like to open the garden to the public, in partnership with the museum. Though much work lies ahead if the project is to be successful, the Friends have once again come up trumps and helped move the project forward.

In June 2007, The Friends applied for a small grant from the Community Development Fund run by Carmarthenshire Association of Voluntary Services (CAVS). The application was successful to the sum of £1,257. This grant will fund a small project that will bring the walled garden proposals to the attention of the local community and allow consultation to take place. At the end of the day, only the active participation of the community will make the garden proposals sustainable. Some of the money will buy software to redesign the Friends web site. The web site will be key to promoting the scheme in the long-term. The grant will also enable the diocese’s Plant Dewi Project to run a couple of digital workshops with Abergwili school and local children so that they too can participate in developments.

More immediately, the walled garden will be cleared sufficiently to allow public access for a ‘visioning day’ in the near future, which we believe is an essential part of the consultation. The local community and all Friends will be invited, so keep an eye on the post. We need your ideas to take forward the vision.