New: Country Trust & National Garden Scheme Partnership

The Country Trust is thrilled to announce a new partnership with the National Garden Scheme in 2025, aimed at improving children's physical and mental health. This collaboration will expand The Country Trust’s Food Discovery Programme which supports children from disadvantaged backgrounds to connect with food, farming and nature through hands-on, real-world learning experiences. The National Garden Scheme is pledging £25,000 to support this life-enhancing programme.

The partnership champions gardening education for children who may not otherwise have access to green spaces, providing them with the opportunities to gain first-hand experience of how food is grown, and the importance of healthy eating for their physical and mental wellbeing.

The Food Discovery Programme will be implemented in schools in London, Manchester, Northumberland, Cambridgeshire and Derbyshire, focusing on areas where children face significant socio-economic challenges. In 2025 alone, the programme will impact over 240 children from schools with a 42% Free School Meal average.

“I’m delighted that the National Garden Scheme has chosen to support The Country Trust this year,” said Charlotte Repton, who manages the Food Discovery Programme. “Their support will allow even more children to get growing in their school grounds where they will learn not just about how to grow, prepare and cook fresh, nutritious food - but also how to grow their confidence and resilience and enjoy the other mental and physical wellbeing benefits of gardening and spending time in nature.”

“Supporting children to get into nature through the Food Discovery Programme, with its hands-on practical approach, is key to sowing the seeds for a lifelong love of the land and of nature and, we hope, a stepping stone to growing plants and creating gardens in the future,” said George Plumptre, CEO of the National Garden Scheme. “Our research consistently shows the importance of gardens and green spaces for health and wellbeing and we’re delighted to be supporting children at the formative stage in their learning and development through our funding to The Country Trust this year.”

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