Thanks to National Lottery Players and Eden District Council, in October 2022 Eden Rivers Trust took control of a plot of land on an allotment in Penrith. The dream? To create a community tree nursery that would open a doorway to conservation; a place accessible to all, where local people, volunteers and community groups could learn about trees and the river and work together; growing and nurturing locally-sourced seeds.

The resulting native saplings will be planted on river conservation sites throughout the Eden catchment; creating food and homes for wildlife; helping manage the flow of water over land and storing carbon.

Follow our progress with Jenni (Volunteer and Community Outreach Coordinator) and the volunteers and community groups who are embarking on this adventure with us.

Read the latest Good things come in trees blog

Or…why not experience the wonderful nursery first hand by coming along to one of our twice weekly work parties to help us grow our saplings.

There’s always lots to do. If you’re up for a spot of painting, planting, building, cleaning, chopping, tidying or digging then we’d love to see you and you’ll be made to feel very welcome!

More information about volunteering and lending a hand at the nursery>

Latest news

Nov 2024: Trees From Seeds: We held a guided walk at CWT’s Thacka Beck nature reserve to identify and gather seeds from the local native trees. Although quite late in the season, participants found berries on hawthorn, blackthorn and guelder rose trees and hips from dog rose, being careful to take only a few berries and leave plenty for the birds. The group then moved to our inspiring tree nursery where Jenni instructed participants on how to remove seeds from the various types of berries, the different temperature requirements and time needed for germination of different native species.

Nov 2024: Getting Buzzy: The Penrith Community Tree nursery was buzzing with activity as regular volunteers came out in force joining us for our regular workparties as we continued preparations for the installation of our polytunnel to see our more delicate seeds and saplings (and volunteers!) through the winter months.

We continued our work preparing seeds collected from native trees in the area to get them into the soil and tucked up over the winter months. We held an extra days activities as we gave a warm welcome to Beaumont College students who built a very grand high rise bug hotel; definitely 5 STAR accommodation.

Aug 2024: Powering Penrith’s Plants: We hosted a free composting workshop for Penrith’s gardeners and allotmenteers at our inspirational nursery, located at the Brackenber allotments in Castletown. Read more>

Thanks to the hard work and unwavering support of our volunteers, allotment 99 has been transformed from an unloved patch of land into a thriving, bustling community tree nursery! The wheelchair-friendly path has been laid (and tested!), new drainage and a pond dug, a wet-weather shelter/bag store built, beautiful willow fence created … oh, and some trees are now growing too!

We’ve welcomed community and youth groups to the tree nursery to introduce them to the joys of tree-growing, nature and rivers.

We’re delighted that the Garfield Weston Foundation and Penrith Town Council have recently come on board to help support the tree nursery in 2024 and beyond and we’re busy cultivating plans for next year to implement and promote sustainable water use on the site and run a programme of learning experiences all around ‘Year of the Tree’.

In pictures…

Creating our wonderful space in 2022

This project is supported by the Access to Eden: breaking barriers, building bridges partnership project led by Eden Rivers Trust with a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks also to the Garfield Weston Foundation and Penrith Town Council for their support during 2024.