The Saxon-themed Athelstan Garden will be planted this spring to mark Kingston 2025.
Queen’s Promenade Friends, a volunteer group who maintain Kingston’s riverside park, has received £1,000 of councillor ward funding for their new Athelstan Garden.
This was double the amount that the group had requested for the new community space.
“It was very kind of the councillors to buy into our community project and provide significant contribution to the overall cost,” said Stefan Gross, chair of Queen’s Promenade Friends.
The group has already spent months clearing the 160 square metre plot near the Ginger Bees Café, which had long been neglected following a severe bindweed infestation.
Gross said that the plan is to create a “horticulturally attractive and sustainable garden, adopting modern garden and landscape principles”.
He added: “We will include many pollinator-friendly plants to increase biodiversity in the area and hope that the general public likes to enjoy a new beauty spot and will respect it.”
The garden is being named after King Athelstan, whose coronation in Kingston 1,100 years ago is being celebrated across the borough as part of Kingston 2025.
As a nod to Athelstan, the garden will feature Anglo-Saxon plant varieties, and flowers in his coat of arms colours of red, yellow and blue.
To sponsor a plant in the Athelstan Garden, donate, or find out more information, click here.
