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High Sheriff of Greater Manchester enjoys visit to The Garden House

High Sheriff Cutting Ribbon

The High Sheriff of Greater Manchester, Mr Mark Adlestone OBE, and his wife, Gabrielle, enjoyed a visit to The Garden House on Tuesday 8th October. Mr Adlestone, who in his role as High Sheriff, also heads up the charitable organisation, the Greater Manchester High Sheriff’s Police Trust, visited the Marple site to open the new hand-washing facility and find out a bit more about the valuable service The Garden House provides to the local community.

The Garden House and the Greater Manchester High Sheriff’s Police Trust has an ongoing relationship which has been well established over the past few years, with the Trust helping to facilitate the popular ‘Meet the Police Horses and Dogs of Greater Manchester’, as well as provide multiple grants to The Garden House. 

Mr Adlestone with students from Melland High School

The Garden House is a community farm and registered charity which provides families, groups and organisations with a safe space in the Cheshire countryside, where they can come and spend time outdoors, learning about nature and the local ecosystem in an accessible environment. The Garden House works with a number of organisations around Greater Manchester and Stockport, in particular those who cater to children and young adults with complex needs, such as the Seashell Trust, the Together Trust, Melland High School, Penarth Group School and Pure Innovations, to name but a few. 

Mr Adlestone visited the site, and enjoyed a walk around the community farm, seeing for himself the valuable support which The Garden House provides to the local community and beyond, meeting students from Melland High School, who were spending time working on the allotment area, and learning about the ‘farm to fork’ process.
Mr Adlestone also met staff and children from Jubilee Childcare, the on-site nursery at The Garden House, and was able to learn about the positive impact spending time at the farm has on the young children. 

Mr Adlestone opening the new hand wash facility

Mr Adlestone was able to see the many facilities on site, visiting the zip wire, the children’s play area and meeting the various animals on site, whilst learning about the organisations we work alongside, and the support we provide to local families and groups. Mr Adlestone was also able to meet two of our volunteers, Lewis and Adam, and learn about the guidance and benefits to themselves which volunteering at The Garden House has provided. 

He then opened the new hand wash facility, which will cater for large groups and organisations, and was installed following on from feedback from visitors. 

Both Mr and Mrs Adlestone then enjoyed lunch in the on-site cafe, where they were able to learn more about the partnership between The Garden House and the Co-Op, from Becky Iaconianni. 

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The Garden House launches promotional video to showcase the services it provides to the local community

The Garden House in Marple has launched a promotional video which showcases everything that the charity provides to the local community. 

The Garden House, a registered charity based in Marple, aims to provide families, groups and organisations, in particular those which cater for children and young adults with complex needs, with a safe space in the Cheshire countryside. They work alongside many groups from the Stockport and Greater Manchester area, including The Seashell Trust, the Together Trust and the Prince’s Trust, as well as Melland High School and Burnage Academy for Boys to name but a few. 

The video, produced by Stockport based Sammon Media and with the support of the Greater Manchester High Sheriff’s Police Trust, looks at the timeline and story of The Garden House, from how it was originally built by Samuel Oldknow in 1801 as a small arable farm, producing food for the workers at Mellor Mill during the Victorian era, to its demise during the 20th century, when it became Marple’s UCD Tip and the lower ground was plagued with fly tipping. 

The video then focuses on The Garden House as it is today, in that it’s back to being a community farm which provides a variety of groups with a place that they can come and enjoy the outdoors, and build vital life skills for the future. 

The video focuses on two of the specialist educational establishments that The Garden House works in partnership with; Melland High School, a school for children with special education needs, and Penarth Group School, for children with additional needs. The video also focuses on our ongoing partnership with nearby school Brabyn’s Preparatory School, and how The Garden House site provides a welcome respite from classroom learning, and allows the children to learn about the local ecosystem and nature in a safe environment. 

The video also speaks to Janis, owner of Jubilee Childcare which is situated on The Garden House site, and the benefits which the charity brings to the local community, and further looks at the various animals on site as well, including goats, pigs, alpacas, chickens, geese and turkeys. The video also gives a glimpse of the newly refurbished and ‘under new management’ Riverside Cafe, which just last week received a 5* Food Hygiene certificate.