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The West Dorset Magazine, May 6, 2022
Homes & Gardens
Ex-nursery fills gap in the market By Karen Bate newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk
An overgrown and neglected former nursery just outside Crossways near Dorchester, has been transformed into a thriving market garden on a ‘very small budget.’ Inspired by selfsufficiency, Lily and her mother Nicky, the former head gardener at Athelhampton House, have launched the Edible Acre and will be selling their produce in vegetable boxes from June with the excess being sold to restaurants and pubs. Lily said: “Growing food which is enough and more to feed the local community can take us away from relying on the giant supermarkets. “We wanted to do this especially having noticed the fragility in the current world’s food systems which have been exacerbated by covid and Brexit. “We had also heard from friends and many other people that there is a want and a need for locally produced fresh food. “This motivated us to push on with our idea of creating a local market garden.” Without further ado, Lily and her mum got digging and clearing the plot ready for planting, with the harvest ready in just a matter of weeks. “We took on the site as a disused nursery which had not been open and used for six years. Nature had
A GROWING BUSINESS: Edible Acre near Crossways, Dorchester
completely taken hold and over the last six months we have been working with the help of family and friends to bring it back into use as a small-scale food production site, reusing most of what we could and doing the best within a very small budget.” Lily is part of a large
family, who have always been interested in selfsufficiency, looking after and growing in a multiple of vegetable plots and allotments, foraging, raising chickens, preserving foods and making wine and beer. “Being has always been a cornerstone of how we have lived,” said Lily, “so
creating something like The Edible Acre was always a family dream. As children, we quite often were plucking veg from the garden for dinner as Mum had the pot already on the stove.” Along with selling the produce, Lily has a vision to host and run workshops, hold talk and host events
