Link to Nature
Our award-winning project encouraging a renewed interest in our beloved gardens!
We’ve always loved our gardens in this country – but with feelings of loneliness comes a lack of motivation to get outside and as our mood levels plummet it’s easy to ignore our outside spaces. We’re changing that for our Link Friends with our Link to Nature project, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and Wokingham Town Council.
“It can be quite boring living alone. Now I am part of Link to Nature, I have all these new friends with common interests. And for the first time in years, I am excited about something and I have a focus. It feels wonderful.”
Our Link to Nature programme is a way of improving the well-being of our clients. There is a wealth of research about how reconnecting with nature benefits our mental health by reducing anxiety, stress and depression. Gardening and other nature-related activities can also encourage mobility, improving physical health.
We provide a seasonal programme of nature-based activities which enhances our one-to-one in-home befriending service. Link Friends and their volunteers can enjoy a common interest in nature through supported gardening and wildlife-related past times.
In spring we provide bird boxes and feeders to encourage engagement with wildlife. In summer we help Link Friends to re-connect with their gardens by growing flowers and vegetables. In winter we provide nature-based indoor activities and crafts to enjoy during colder months.
Our awards
In 2023, our Link to Nature project received an 'Outstanding' in the It's Your Neighbourhood Awards at Thames and Chilterns in Bloom. We were thrilled to also be awarded a National Certificate of Distinction, which is given to projects that have done consistently well over time. Thames and Chilterns in Bloom is one of 16 regional and national campaigns which make up Britain in Bloom with the RHS - Europe’s largest horticultural campaign.
In 2022, Wokingham in Bloom was awarded Gold, as well as overall Regional Winner in the Thames and Chiltern in Bloom Awards. Our Link to Nature project in particular won ‘Outstanding’ in the Neighbourhood category. Read the press release here >
Watch the Link to Nature video…
What is it like to be involved in Link to Nature?
What we’ve been up to recently…
Our partners
Gardening expertise is provided by our delivery partners, Wokingham in Bloom and Wokingham Horticultural Association. Because of our partnership with them, we are aiming to recycle 5,000 pots and get around 3,500 plants and seeds to our community in the next 3 years! We are closely working together to ensure we provide a wide variety of sustainable and pollinator-friendly selections to all of our Link Friends.
We are very grateful for the support of The National Lottery Community Fund and Wokingham Town Council.
Our talk series
The Birds of Holt Copse by Mike Saynor
A Trip to Farley Hill Gardens
Bird watching and climate change
Beekeeping, by Tony Lack
