A walk around some amazing street gardens in Walthamstow

For the first time since 2019, Walthamstow community gardeners will again be hosting free guided walks around our buzzing streets at 11am on Saturday 21 May.

A lot has changed in the last three years and we’ve added a completely new route, so there are now three to choose from. Each walk will last for about 90 minutes, with plenty of opportunities to chat to local gardeners about planting, planning, what it takes to get community gardening started and how to keep it going.

Community gardening in Walthamstow is as diverse as the people, so there will be the chance to see all sorts of everyday and out-of-the-way places: planters, pocket parks, roadsides, verges, tree-pits, communal spaces, even graves - nowhere is beyond the reach of our inventive gardeners!

The three walks will converge on the historic St Mary’s Churchyard, where plants and refreshments will be on sale, along with BEE17 honey, which is so local that you will probably see some of the bees that made it.

Free guided tours of the ancient and extensive churchyard will be available, led by ornithologist David and local historian Jack, as well as the opportunity to stroll a few yards further to explore the Vestry House Museum and Walthamstow Village.

We look forward to showing you around and exciting your community gardening imagination!

ACCESSIBILITY - The walks are each around one mile long, step-free and suitable for wheelchairs, but the West walk has a fairly steep climb up Aubrey Road. The stalls and catering at St Mary’s will be accessible, but the Churchyard tours are not. There are accessible toilets at Vestry House Museum (about 100 yards from the end of the walks).

BOOKING - To take part you will need to book a place using the links below - we need to control numbers to ensure the walks are safe and enjoyable. If you can't come, please cancel your booking so someone else can take your place.

WEST WALK : Starting at the top of Walthamstow Market, yards from the tube and bus stations, you will hear about some unusual watering arrangements and dive into a quiet crescent before crossing busy Hoe Street into Poet’s Corner. We will pass planters and tree pits to reach a modern take on “the village green” before ascending one of the steepest and narrowest streets in the neighbourhood (special feature, tyre tracks in the gardens). Gasp at the challenging conditions before strolling up to St Mary’s, noting the creatively planted ‘no watering’ planters on the way.

WEST WALK TICKETS https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/walthamstow-chelsea-fringe-west-walk-tickets-308702265787

EAST WALK : A three-minute stroll from Wood Street Overground station takes you to the start of our East Walk in the Barrett Road Community Garden. By the time you reach St Mary’s you will have admired a mini-orchard, many planters and extensive tree pits. We will also drop in at a luxurious bug-hotel, recently opened by our local MP, inspect some well-established perennial planting and spend a few moments hearing the story of a small Memorial Garden.

EAST WALK TICKETS https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/walthamstow-chelsea-fringe-east-walk-tickets-308713439207

SOUTH WALK - We will gather 300 yards from Walthamstow Central Station in a tiny pocket park created between two massive London Plane trees that protected this corner plot from development but left it derelict for decades. We will then cross the railway line into Walthamstow Village passing some inventive street planting, a mini orchard and a stumpery created to deal with one of those impossible dry-shade areas, before reaching the community veg patch and a wildflower Meadow by the Ancient House.

SOUTH WALK TICKETS https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/walthamstow-chelsea-fringe-south-walk-tickets-308762846987