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

The nature trail winds around the site and through adjoining woodland. We will begin developing an accessible nature trail at the end of April 2024.  There will be a grand opening later in the year.   Under the special heading at the top for Nature Trail. Have a look at the accessible nature trail 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

Members of a community growing project in Lancaster were greatly saddened to see their cafe and compost toilet burnt to the ground, with the loss of many personal items.

Please donate here if you can,  all donations towards the funding of replacement buildings following the fire will be gratefully received.