Rain Gardening courses for free

Action for the River Kennet (ARK), the charity which helps take care of our local River Kennet, is offering local people the chance of a free ‘Rain Gardening’ course.

ARK has teamed up with Ramsbury-based garden designer, Wendy Allen, to offer free courses demonstrating how to build rain gardens and rain planters at home. Creating a rain garden is a practical way to make a positive difference to the environment, for instance, helping with water run-off from paved driveways. And with Spring just around the corner, there’s no better time to learn how.

Having built beautiful, functional rain gardens at Preshute, Ramsbury, Aldbourne and Shalbourne Primary Schools, ARK wanted to show people how to manage rainwater in their own gardens. So, working with Wendy Allen, they have developed two training courses covering both the theory and practice of this new way of gardening. With funding from Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and Thames Water, they are able to offer the following courses for free:

• Understanding rain | How to Build a DIY Rain Garden
  Monday 14 March (online) 09.30 – 13.30
• Rescuing Rain | How to Build a DIY Rain Planter
  Wednesday 16 March 9.30 (Practical workshop, Marlborough) 09.30- 16.00
  Wednesday 27 April (online) 09.30-13.30

For more details visit www.riverkennet.org or call 01672 51270.

Pictured: ARK volunteers plant up a Rain Planter