Spud Club

Spud club is a no-dig food growing project open to anyone from the community to grow food together whilst building friendship and sharing food, recipes, stories, skills, and knowledge.  All are welcome to join us.  Working collectively we plan, sow, and harvest produce from over 50 beds throughout the year…meaning that members can take home a wide variety of delicious veg and fruit. 

Seed library

The Lancaster Seed Library is bringing back the lost art & skill of seed saving. It reskills local growers & gardeners in seed saving whilst developing a living bank of locally adapted seed varieties at Claver Hill. We run skill shares and practical sessions throughout the year. We also have a seed library within Lancaster Central library where you can pick up and drop of seeds, as well as a number of Sew and Sow libraries around Lancaster and Morecambe. 

Beekeeping and flower Farm

The team maintains several Pollinator spaces around the site which keep the bees from our 5 hives happy.  The flowers also bring cheer to everyone who visits and works at Claver Hill.

Natural Dyes

This project was set up to explore the feasibility of natural dyes in Lancaster and Morecambe and to raise awareness of the toxic effects of industrial dyes on the environment and implications for health. The group have a number of growing beds around the site where plants are grown for dyes and have so far extracted a whole range of beautiful colours from wild and cultivated plants. 

Potato Day

Potato Day is always the last Saturday of January, in collaboration with Transition City Lancaster we host an annual Potato Day where vast quantities of organic seed potatoes are sold to the public. To make the most of it all, we also have a seed swapping/saving stall along with our wonderful homemade jams and chutneys. 

Nature Trail

We have two nature trails at Claver Hill.  The new Accessible Nature Trail is shorter and wheelchair friendly.

You can find the QR Audio Guide  to the Nature Trail here

The Wild Nature Trail travels on uneven ground which can get muddy.  

 Please take care.  

You can find a link to the Wild Nature Trail map and leaflet here

Have a look at both nature trails on a map,  here

Global Link Food Growing Project

Global Link is working in partnership with Claver Hill to enable refugees and asylum seekers to grow their own organic food, both at Claver Hill and in their own yards and gardens. This project brings refugees and asylum seekers together with the local community, offering the opportunity to share skills and cultures. The project is managed by Vaso who runs weekly sessions on Sundays 2-4PM.

Claver Hill Tree Nursery and Coppice

The Tree Nursery group supports grafting and growing fruit trees for the community. The group runs skill share sessions on coppicing and pruning in order to maintain the shelter belts and our Heritage Apple Tree collection.  We have a basket willow coppice and are looking for a keen tree person to oversee the growing of native deciduous trees for community planting.

Claver Hill has joined the group of Community Composting Sites around Lancaster.  We accept kitchen veg waste and garden clippings to compost and then share when the process is complete.  We often hold workshops to explore ideas and methods on composting

Saturday  27th July 2024 

1pm - 4pm

You are invited to celebrate the opening of the Claver Hill Accessible Nature Trail.  A surface suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs, where local residents can enjoy nature or participate in the many community projects on site.

Come along to find out about Spud Club, where you can help out and share the harvest, or our other initiatives: Seed Library, Flower Farm, Beekeeping, Natural Dyes, Global Link Food Growing Project and our Tree Nursery and Poly Tunnels.

There will be guided walks and fun activities for all the family, tea, coffee and cakes available and a stall selling our preserves and surplus produce.

(There is limited parking at Claver Hill - if driving, please park near Central Lancaster High School).