A big part of Studio Stour is garden design for private clients. That is my main work. But some of the most important work I do sits slightly outside it, in school grounds, community gardens, allotments, therapeutic spaces and outdoor areas that need more than a tidy-up.
They need care and purpose, and someone to see the potential in them.
Over the years, I’ve been lucky to work alongside charities and community interest companies that use gardens, nature and outdoor space to create real change. Two organisations I feel especially passionate about are Level Best Enterprises in Colchester and Greener Growth CIC.
They remind me why gardens matter: not just as designed spaces, but as places where people can learn, recover, connect, build confidence and feel part of something.
Level Best Enterprises, Colchester
Level Best Enterprises is a social enterprise started by The Dacon Trust. It supports adults and young people with learning disabilities through meaningful work and life-skills training, with trainees involved in growing, making, baking and creating.
It is about giving people the chance to contribute: to learn practical skills, to build confidence and to be part of a working environment where their input has value.
Their gardening work is particularly close to my heart. Level Best has an allotment within walking distance of its Colchester hub, where trainees grow fruit, vegetables and flowers. The produce can go into their café and seasonal products, linking the growing space straight back into the wider enterprise.
Small daily tasks, adding up to a much bigger sense of purpose.
Greener Growth CIC
Greener Growth CIC works across schools, prisons, communities and commercial landscapes, using horticulture, food growing, conservation and biodiversity projects to support people and improve outdoor spaces. Their model puts community benefit at the centre, with commercial work helping to fund wider community programmes.
This is the kind of work I strongly believe in, because it proves that landscape design does not need to sit in a neat box.
- It can be practical.
- It can be therapeutic.
- It can be ecological.
- It can be educational.
Greener Growth’s work with SEND schools, prisons and communities shows how outdoor spaces can support people who may not always have easy access to nature, good gardens or practical outdoor learning. That matters, especially now.
So many outdoor spaces are treated as leftover land: a strip of grass beside a building, a neglected corner of a school, a tired courtyard, a bit of land no one knows what to do with. With the right thinking, these places can become food-producing gardens, wildlife habitats, outdoor classrooms, calm spaces, social spaces and places of real pride.
Greener Growth’s recent work includes a 1,000-tree community woodland at Elm Tree School, delivered with Discover the World Education and Seeding Hope CIC. The project involved students, schools, volunteers and HMP Wayland’s nursery, creating a living classroom and a wider community reforestation project. You can read more in my story about bringing biodiversity to Elm Tree School.
Why this work matters to Studio Stour
This work feeds directly into how I design. Studio Stour is built around people, place and purpose. That is not just a line for the website; it is how I want the work to feel.
People, because gardens and outdoor spaces are lived in and used. They should reflect real lives, not just trends, and the charity and CIC work reminds me of that constantly. It shows what gardens can do when they are treated as more than decoration.
- They can teach.
- They can heal.
- They can feed.
- They can connect.
- They can give people confidence.
- They can turn forgotten spaces into places with meaning.
That is why I care about this side of my work so much, and why I want Studio Stour to keep supporting projects where design, nature and community overlap.
Sometimes the most powerful gardens are not the most polished ones. They are the ones that help people grow.
Filed under Project insights on 3 July 2026
