Stockwell’s secret garden to be opened tomorrow by author Deborah Orr

This Sunday, July 21st, writer and columnist Deborah Orr is throwing open the gates of  Stockwell’s Secret Garden. There’ll be singing and dancing round the mulberry bushes she’s planting at the Garden Party, which celebrates  the  reopening, after 20 years, of a hidden pocket of woodland.

Bring a picnic and  be entertained. Headlining is Edinburgh-bound Herstory, by PollyClamorous, with their four ukuleles and penchant for dark comedy. This musical compendium chronicles the tales of some of the most enigmatic and misunderstood women in history.

Take tea with Dandy Animals and wrestle with the big questions of life. Urban Growth is running a free ‘edibles’ workshop around  raised  beds for the potentially green fingered – aficionado residents  are already growing food for their kitchen tables.

Just six months ago  this garden, at the  heart  of Stockwell ‘s Spurgeon Estate, was a wasteland,  was locked  and  neglected. Abandoned by all, apart from  kids climbing  over the  railings and  the resident fox.

It  was  particularly  tragic  to  see  this dereliction  in  inner  London,  where  green  spaces are  so  valuable. People had  been  excluded  from  the  garden  for  over  20  years,  and  nobody  quite remembers  why  it  was  locked  in  the  first  place.

Residents resolved  to  reopen  the garden. Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows donated more than 200 plants for the woodland, and Lambeth and City Hall funded the raised beds.

The heart of this inner London estate is now teaming with wildlife and the community has come together to add a new dimension to city lives.

Secret Garden Party – part of London National Park City Festival, Teversham Walk SW8 1UL (behind South Lambeth Road Surgery)

Sunday July 21st

12 noon – 6pm

Free