On 4 August, Jamie and Matt finished their construction of the new garden kitchen and shelter. It is mainly made of Scottish larch, via a local sawmill. This has been funded by a S106 ‘developers’ grant via the City Council. With a portable pizza oven (see photo below).

The shelter can be used by garden users but isn’t accessible yet. Because of the mature Swedish whitebeam trees’ roots, it sits above the ground and we now need to work out the best way of providing ‘level’ access to it. We are working with Sports & Rec at the City Council on this. So we won’t be organising activities that require access to it or launch’ it officially yet.

It will be kept empty of furniture so it can be used for a diverse range of activities - for example, just taking some chairs into it, or for groups to meet and especially to support cooking (and eating) in the garden.

It has been informally dedicated to Siva Mahalingham, a much-missed garden volunteer and local resident who we think would have loved to cook Sri Lankan delicacies from it. We will work with her family on how to mark this.

We’d like to fit it out with noticeboards - but are enjoying the new larch featherboard at the moment.

We like the idea of making some mosaic friezes above the boards but need to work out the best way to do these. Maybe we can do them as a community activity.

So, in the meantime, do enjoy using it and follow its progress.