Octavia Hill was a pioneering thinker and social reformer, who worked tirelessly to improve urban housing, protect green spaces, provide people access to nature and stop the destruction of the natural landscape. Hill was the inspiration behind the People’s Choice winning, Blue Diamond Garden Centre Group and National Trust 2024 RHS Chelsea Octavia Hill Flower Show garden, designed by Ann-Marie Powell.

Hill believed that ‘the healthy gift of air and the joy of plants and flowers’ are vital in everyone’s life, a message that is perhaps even more relevant today. Around 1 in 3 people in the UK today do not have access to nature or outdoor spaces near their homes, and in some deprived areas, there is no access to green spaces at all.

Inspired by the beliefs of their pioneering RHS Chelsea protagonist, the Blue Diamond Garden Centres Group is offering funding to support local groups to create new community gardens or give a makeover to existing community gardens. Blue Diamond are offering a total of £10,000 worth of the retail value of plants and garden care products, to be split equally across five community gardens, along with six hours of expert help and advice, to get the projects off to a flying start. Blue Diamond will support the gardens over a year with the aim that these gardens will help provide the vital benefits of green space to the communities surrounding them – just as Hill wanted.

To be in with a chance of winning, local groups will need to demonstrate that their community garden project will increase the biodiversity in their neighbourhood, improve resident well-being and provide an immersive space where people from the local community can reconnect with nature.

The deadline for applications is the 30th June 2024. The five winning community garden projects will be chosen by a nominated representative of Blue Diamond on 12th July 2024.

Best of luck to all who enter.