The grounds and gardens at Southwell Minster and The Archbishop’s Palace provide a peaceful and charming environment for locals and visitors to walk through, play in, learn from and enjoy. They are also an important link to the Minster itself, the history that surrounds it and its future.

We are looking for a small group of volunteers who can help us take care and nurture this beautiful space.

How it will benefit you?

Working outdoors, with plants and with nature has proven therapeutic benefits, providing a way to help you physically, emotionally, spiritually and socially by improving general health and wellbeing. It can also give you a wonderful opportunity to contribute to your local community, learn something new, use existing skills and meet new people.

How it will benefit us?

The gardeners are always looking for keen and enthusiastic people to help them maintain the gardens and grounds to a standard that we, local residents and visitors alike, can be proud of. It also helps support its future development and maintain a space that future generations will also enjoy.

Examples of specific tasks to help us with are below:

Palace Gardens (read more about the Palace Gardens)

– Managing the woodland area – this needs regular tidying and weeding

– Refreshing and maintaining the herb parterre – regular tending by weeding, edging the lawn and pruning

– General gardening tasks such as edging, weeding, managing ivy growth

– Planning how we can attract more birds and wildlife to the garden

– Autumnal bulb planting

Churchyard

– Keeping gravestones and other areas tidy and free of weeds and ivy

Paddock

– Building new compost bays to help us manage our green waste responsibly

– Although the paddock is currently not used as a public space, the area including the woodland, needs maintaining to help us manage the wider environment and maximise the benefits to wildlife

If you are interested in volunteering, whether it’s on a regular basis or just a one-off, we would be delighted to hear from you and discuss it further.

Please contact us via email at office@southwellminster.org.uk or via the vergers’ office – 01636 817290.

Our space is your space too!