Make Hamilton has undergone a huge transformation in the last three years. What used to be the Treasury Annexe Building – a large, vacant site off Hamilton Square is now a beautiful creative hub with a thriving community, café and community garden.
In 2019 we ran a Crowdfunder to get initial funding to start the garden, which was well supported by the local community. Since then, we have been running weekly garden volunteer sessions. We have many wonderful volunteers (past and present) who have helped us turn this previously unused space into an incredible biodiverse garden to relax, learn, socialise, and enjoy!
Our community garden session runs every Friday 12 pm -2 pm from April – November. We grow a mix of annual & perennial vegetables to support the café, flowers for the bees, and herbs to make teas!
This year the garden also hosted a wonderful weekly gardening group from Wirral Mencap. The group have been instrumental in maintaining the garden this season, sowing seeds, watering, weeding and planting out (amongst many other tasks!). We are incredibly grateful for all their hard work and support in making the space look beautiful.
OTHER PROJECTS HAPPENING IN THE GARDEN THIS YEAR INCLUDE:
BEE HIVES
Our brilliant resident beekeeper John currently manages seven bee hives situated at the bottom of the Make Hamilton garden. They produce our “Hamilton Honey”, available to buy in the café. John also runs seasonal workshops on beekeeping and honey harvesting.
HERBAL TEAS
With funding from the School of Social Entrepreneurs, we are creating our own herbal tea brand. We grow herbs and edible flowers in the garden, then dehydrate and sell them in the café as loose leaf teas.
We also run seasonal “Herbs for Health” workshops in the café/garden, where attendees learn how to create simple herbal remedies from the plants in season. Including tinctures, teas and balms. Get your tickets to the next class here.
HOPS
Make Hamilton, Callister garden, and several local home growers are partnering with local brewery Brimstage, growing hops to create a locally grown and brewed beer. In late September, we will be hosting a community harvest where the hops will be harvested at all growing locations on the same day and taken to Brimstage to brew the first batch. If all goes to plan and we have a good harvest this year, the first batch is set to be ready in the Autumn.
COMPOSTING
In the winter of 2021, we set up community compost bays in the garden with Compost Works CIC. The compost bins collect food waste from our onsite café, residents, and volunteers to turn it into compost for the garden. We have hosted several “introduction to composting” workshops and are also starting to receive food waste from other local businesses. If you live or work locally and are interested in joining the scheme or free composting workshops, contact rosie.ashton@makecic.org.
MAKE HAMILTON CAFÉ
Our Make Hamilton café opened its doors at the end of 2021. Over the last six months, we have been slowly building our menu, utilising as much garden produce as possible. We currently serve a selection of homemade cakes made with Hamilton Honey and edible flowers. We also sell herbal teas grown and dried on-site. The teas include chamomile, calendula, mint & fennel seed.
The café is open Mon to Fri 10 am to 3 pm. Pop in for a cup of tea and a slice of cake to enjoy in the beautiful garden seating area.
We now also run a selection of classes & workshops in the cafe and garden! Follow us on Eventbrite to be the first to know when we announce a new class.
Other ways to stay updated on what’s happening in the garden:
Twitter @MAKECIC
Facebook @MAKECIC
Instagram @MAKE.CIC
Want to see what else is happening at Make? Check out OUR BLOG!
