| This week saw
the UK’s largest eco-village, Beddington Zero Energy Development
(BedZED) in Sutton, receiving delivery of traditional lavender plants,
cultivated by prisoners at HMP Downview. The partnership has enabled
BedZED to build on the local character of the area, whilst providing
inmates with useful new skills.
An eco-village project by the
Peabody Trust, BioRegional Development Group and Bill Dunster Architects
- BedZED is a ground-breaking development of 82 homes and workspaces
in South London, addressing every area of sustainable living. It
is the largest and most ambitious eco-development in the UK.
The lavender plants are the result
of BioRegional's successful lavender project which has enabled this
long-term collaboration with HMP Downview. Cuttings of the traditional
varieties of the area were collected from the public and grown in
a horticulture project with the prison providing prisoners with
the opportunity of learning new, practical skills. Once the lavender
cuttings were ready for planting prisoners on day release helped
BioRegional staff clear and plant up disused allotments, donated
by Sutton Council, in Carshalton Beeches to recreate the historic
lavender fields. To date over 25,000 lavender bushes have been grown
in the prison.
Mr Paul Westrupp of Downview prison
said:
“A vast amount has been achieved by inmates at Downview prison
whilst working in partnership with the Carshalton allotment lavender
project. The inmates, who have never worked in horticulture before,
feel a great sense of pride having put something back into the community.”
Yardley London has been sponsoring
the project for the last 2 years, a name which has long been synonymous
with lavender. For many decades Yardley relied on the lavender crops
of the Mitcham and Carshalton area for its range of luxury bath
products and fragrances
The lavender will be planted as
hedges in the development and as well as being simply fragrant and
attractive it is hoped that they will attract wildlife especially
butterflies in the summer.
Pooran Desai director of BioRegional
said:
“The ambitious BedZED project is not only looking to the future,
but building on the heritage of the area.”
Notes
Around 1900, blue fields of Lavender
could be seen all over Wallington, Carshalton, Beddington, Waddon
and Sutton. Lavender was used for scented bags, floor and furniture
washes, as a disinfectant, to preserve linen from moths, and for
remedies.
Yardley
London were established in 1770 and are internationally renowned
for their range of bath luxuries and perfumes based on the highest
quality floral ingredients.
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