A revived Victorian kitchen walled garden in West Oxfordshire offers inspiration, writes PETER BARRINGTON

A Victorian kitchen walled garden that was left to become overgrown and derelict has blossomed once again into a source of fruit and vegetables thanks to being given a new role.

While the Bridewell Organic Garden in the rolling countryside between Woodstock and Witney has revived, its additional purpose is to give people who are ill, most often with mental problems, a route back to everyday life.

For gardening has long been recognised for its therapeutic value in restoring people's self-confidence through rewarding work. So it is not quite how much fruit and vegetables, flowers, honey and eggs that the garden can produce as to how its revival helps people.

Alex Taylor, general manager, explained that around 50 people worked on the garden, though on most days the maximum was between 25 and 30.

They come regularly from West Oxfordshire itself, Oxford, Abingdon, and Bicester to learn gardening or perhaps try their hands at carpentry or blacksmithing. There is also a need to keep in trim the vineyard created fairly recently out of a five-acre field next to the garden.

The garden is part of the Wilcote estate, owned by Charles Cecil and his wife, who lease it at a peppercorn rent. The garden was originally built in the 1860s or 1870s along traditional Victorian kitchen garden lines.

Alex said: "It had been derelict for some time when three people involved with the mental health service in West Oxfordshire and Mind, the mental health charity, decided the garden could offer physical and meaningful activities to people in addition to going to a day centre."

It was in 1994 that the project began and was part-funded by Mind. Now most of the core funding to meet the basic annual costs of around £87,000 comes from a primary care trust 'buying' placements.

The garden is run by eight paid staff three of whom are full-time and five part-time.

"We also have around a dozen volunteers, who are people with an interest in gardening and they come here one day a week," said Alex.

Like all similar traditional gardens found on country estates, the one-and-a-quarter-acre plot is surrounded by a warm, mellow brick wall which has been divided into different areas. For example, there is a garden of flowers and shrubs, plus a wildlife pond that can offer a quiet haven for workers during the day.

There are vegetable plots, an avenue of fruit trees, a fruit cage to keep unwarranted predators away from berries, a herb garden and greenhouses. Around two dozen chickens are given freedom to roam and there are a few beehives in a wooded area.

Alex explained: "Most of the fruit and vegetables are taken home by the people coming to garden, who also have the chicken eggs. But the surplus honey is sold through the village shop in Finstock."

The garden is run on organic lines, though it is not a registered organic garden. However, the vineyard is registered organically and was created with 2,000 vines of the Orion and Phonecian varieties, chosen for their disease resistance and suitability for our colder climate.

"Our grapes go to Will Davenport in Sussex, a leading winemaker. We were very chuffed when we won a bronze medal in the Thames and Chiltern Vineyard Association's competitions in September last year."

Their 2004 vintage produced 730 bottles of wine and the 2005 vintage produced 800 bottles.

"The surplus bottles of wine, those not bought by ourselves, are sold again through the shop in Finstock."

The vineyard needs a lot of attention and has become a useful source of work in the winter months when gardening tends to go quiet.

"With 2,000 vines there is a lot of pruning to do when there is less to do in the garden," said Alex.

He first became involved in the garden as a volunteer after being made redundant from a large industrial concern.

"I was between jobs and someone suggested I might do something in the volunary field. So I came here and now I am general manager. I never thought I would end up being in charge here."

People who have benefited from working in the garden sometimes keep in touch after they have left and a few go into gardening full-time.

"Gardening does help people to get back into their ordinary daily lives. One in four people in the population suffer from some form of mental illness some time in their lives and the garden gives them a chance to regain self-esteem and feel they are achieving something they can see the results of their work," Alex said.

One example of this was the blacksmith's forge run by a full-time blacksmith, Joe Butler.

"We had to make out a special business plan to enable us to employ Joe full-time and he is able to take on outside commercial commissions, as well as making items for the house or garden with the people who come here.

"Apart from the artistic side of blacksmithing, there can be quite a bit of satisfaction gained by simply bashing a piece of metal."

Mrs Cecil, wife of the owner, commented: "I do think they do tremendous work at the garden. They have done incredibly well to bring it back into use from a state of dereliction."

The Bridewell Organic Garden, a registered charity, is holding its annual open day on June 25 from 1pm to 6pm. It will be signposted from various approaches, including from the A4095 between Long Hanborough and Witney.