Just adjacent to Oakfield Terrace is a small piece of green that has captured our imagination for some time; it connects the High Street to ‘The Rec’ (the green space behind the terrace) and has heavily featured in our ‘Thing on the Rec’ activities as a space for market stalls. Inspired by the many stories and contributions we heard from local residents, we began a mini-landscaping design and build process for the space, transforming it into several iterations of use, which now remain with us as desires and visions for a more permanent development.
The development process has been driven by the group that formed as part of the ‘Thing on the Rec’ commission, ‘Homefarm’: this is now the community business start-up ‘Homegrown Collective’ and is supported by Homebaked CLT.
In collaboration we have held several landscaping and horticulture courses and, in the process, activated the square as a place for growing, playing and get-togethers.’Why don’t you grow hops?’ someone said – and this is how Homegrown Collective started brewing.
We would like this space to be integrated into Oakfield Terrace as a public square, with the potential for more permanent market stalls, events and places for people to meet for a chat or to spend some quiet time.
Photos: Mark Loudon, Andrea Ku, Britt Jurgensen; Design sketch: Nicolas Henninger
