The £1million Our Green Space project was run in partnership with Action with Communities in Cumbria between 2008 and 2011. It was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and aimed to “celebrate and enhance the heritage, cultural, environmental and community value of open green spaces in Cumbria for all to enjoy”. A key principle was to equip and empower communities to help themselves to achieve their aims for their open green space and bring them back to life. It did this partly by working with five communities to undertake a mixture of physical improvements, as well as education and celebratory events centred around their local green spaces. It also provided training and resources to many other communities across the county about how to protect and care for their town and village greens.

Impacts of this Work:

• Five community open green space projects delivered a brand new village green with pond, wetland and sports area; turned a derelict old railway site into a community garden; renovated and re-sited an 113 year old listed maypole and restored ancient village wells and well-dressing festival.
• Publication of key learning resources on open green space and village greens (see pdfs later), including, Our Green Space Case Studies book, which captures many of the achievements made and provides information for anyone wanting to undertake similar work in their community.
• Increased awareness of open green space issues
• Skilled up communities and key stakeholders
• Development of strong partnerships

We've included links to some of the literature created as part of this project which you are free to view and download.  

Case Studies.pdf

Educational Pack.pdf

Essential_Green_Infrastructure.pdf

Our Green Spaces - An introduction to their legal status and protection (pdf)

Wildlife_Guide.pdf

Management_Guide.pdf

Wardman's Walkabout 2 (Video)

If you'd like any more information about the project then please email [email protected]