The Gardens
The pub’s gardens and 6 acres of former farmland provide a beautiful and productive setting for the Listed building. They greatly enhance the environment we provide for our customers, our staff and – as importantly – the biodiversity of our locale. We have everything from a sunny 1960’s-era crazy-paved beer terrace at the road junction to shady streams and ancient hedgerows. These offer a huge array of habitats for us to grow food in and nurture native flora and fauna too, as well as to provide restful spaces for visitors to enjoy. We are committed to natural, chemical-free and regenerative approaches to land management, and in 2023 we commissioned an Ecological Survey to record the current biodiversity on site and inform our future management plans.
Our improvements began as soon as we acquired the pub in 2021, with planting 100m of native hedgerow plants and restoring the roadside dry stone wall. In 2022 we trialled a small vegetable growing area and planted some soft fruits, to great success, leading us to the decision to stop sheep grazing on the fields and turn them to a more diverse use.
In 2023 we appointed a new grower, Matt Turnbull (Head of Veg) who now produces beautiful fresh herbs, vegetables and cut flowers for our kitchens in two new beds created by Grizedale Arts’ volunteers on The Farmer’s Fields. We also compost our raw food waste on site to feed our plants. In the future we would like to expand our self sufficiency to include fruit and other useful crops.
Grizedale Arts Head Gardener Karen Guthrie contributes to the masterplan for our land, and curates and programmes garden-focused talks and events at the pub. She also teaches The Farmer’s Arms Gardening School on site. Our gardens are maintained chiefly by Matt Turnbull and Grace Holland (Gardener), with support from other staff, volunteers and from participants of the monthly Farmer’s Arms Gardening School.
If you have any questions or ideas about our land and gardens, please contact us here.
Grizedale Arts thanks the National Lottery Community Fund, Friends of the Lake District and Cumbria Community Fund for supporting our land-based and biodiversity enhancement projects.
