Exciting News about our Community Garden

Exercise, Health and Nutrition / Know Your Neighbourhood Project / Benfieldside Community Garden / October 13th, 2023

Exciting News about our Community Garden

Building Self-Belief are delighted to be a new member of the the Social Farms and Gardens. We are in the final stages of securing our 25 year lease in Benfieldside Community Garden. Once this has been confirmed, we are ready to get going on what will be a fabulous transformation.

We Need Your Help

As a project we will need as much support as possible from the community.  As a community garden we want to create a fabulous space that people of all ages can contribute to and enjoy. There will be planters for growing food, and wildflower areas, some mature trees are already there. What we want to d is involve the community on how we redesign the space.

What underpins our purpose is that it is well known that gardening is so good for our physical and our mental health. In our area, many people only have back yards, therefore to have access to a garden is a brilliant new addition to their lives.

Here are some of the benefits to being involved in community gardening:

  • Outdoor gardening can help your body fight disease
  • Regular gardening builds strength, promotes sleep and helps maintain a healthy body weight
  • Gardening can help protect your memory as you get older
  • Gardening is a mood booster
  • Gardening calms you after a stressful event
  • Community gardens foster a feelings of connectivity
  • Gardening can five you a feeling of empowerment


We are open to suggestions about how the space is used, we are also happy for people to give up as much time as they can afford to help us get this project off the ground. If you would like to volunteer in the garden for us, please get in touch.

Volunteer for us

Benfieldside Community Garden / October 21st, 2024

Duncan Barnett - Volunteer Podcast

Take a listen and discover the origins of our very own community garden. As a district councillor representing Benfieldside in the 1990s, listen to Duncan Barnett's description of the establishment of a community garden in Benfieldside, the very garden that we now call Benfieldside Community Garden.

Self-Belief and Emotional Wellbeing / March 9th, 2023

Teenage Emotional Wellbeing and Environmental Engagement

Our project used environmental, and creative arts related activities, to support the young people’s emotional wellbeing and self-confidence. The programme’s activities developed their arts-based skills and also included visits to Haystax Inclusive Farm Experience in County Durham, where they participated in a range of environmental based activities.

Youth Social Action / October 31st, 2019

Aspirations and Future Planning / October 31st, 2019

The Power of Collaboration | We need YOU!

We are thrilled to announce that we have received funding from the Derwent Valley AAP for an exciting project! Building Self-Belief CIO shall be working with young people from Consett Academy and Learning for Life to develop and design new sensory spaces at Learning for Life, a SEND provision in Consett.