Calthorpe Community Garden
This page is a summary of the collaboration between Calthorpe Community Garden and UCL postgraduate students and researchers through the Evaluation Exchange.
Calthorpe Community Garden is an inner-city community garden that aims to improve physical and emotional well-being through different activities such as social and therapeutic horticulture, cooking classes and sport.
How we worked with the Evaluation Exchange
The team worked together to come up with a way to determine how the varied elements of the garden make a difference to the people using the garden. They developed and tested on-line questionnaires and also helped develop a video of ‘why people love Calthorpe’.
Legacy for Calthorpe Community Garden
The garden now has a way to evaluate the different aspects of the garden that is clear for staff to understand and carry out.
The new video will help Calthorpe present qualitative information about the garden which is hard to capture through surveys, such as the atmosphere and role in the community.
Legacy for the students and researchers
As researchers, we’ve learned to help craft concrete goals through conversations with busy stakeholders as well as set timelines and manage expectations. The experience has given us understanding of how to communicate effectively with stakeholders who are coming in with a very different perspective and orientation.
The experience gave us a better understanding of the variety and huge amount of work and dedication that goes into successful functioning of a charity organisation such as a community garden.
As individuals, we’ve also discovered a beautiful new spot close to UCL in the heart of Camden.
- Anna-Leigh Brown (PhD student, Neurology)
- Alfred Harwood (PhD student, Quantum Physics)
- Aleksandra Kaye (PhD student, History)
- Yuhong Wang (PhD student, Urban Greenspace and Environmental Policy)