Calne in Bloom

We are hugely excited to announce the Calne in Bloom Garden and Allotment Competition 2024 launches on 29 April.   This year's competition has a variety of categories for avid gardeners to enter. Categories - You may enter as many categories as you wish.  1.      Private Front Garden 2.      Private Back Garden 3.      Best Single Container or Hanging Basket (for those with little to no garden area) 4.      Allotment Plot 5.      Community Space or Community Group Project 6.      Education Based Garden Project (School, Preschool/Nursery) 7.      Business Project (including but not limited to shops, hospitality and business premises) There is also a Special Award - Wildlife Friendly, environmentally Responsible and Sustainable Garden - Best in Show to receive the annual Rosemary Coombes Sustainability Cup for a period of one year. You ...

Continuing our series of posts highlighting important trees of Calne, we now turn our focus to the two rings of Scots Pine trees on the upper mound of Castlefields Park. The inner circle of Scots Pines were planted to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. The planting of these trees is not mentioned as part of the town's celebration, which resulted in an Oak tree planted at The Green. Perhaps this indicates that the planting was a private endeavour. The outer circle of Scots Pines were planted to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2012. This circle was planted by the Marquis of Lansdowne. A plaque to commemorate these plantings was created and placed by the volunteers of  Castlefields Canal and River Park in October 2012, who took after Castlefields with great care. Find out more about the trees of Calne by visiting out map, a ongoing project that will continue to be updated over time: Trees of Calne Map There is also still time to celebr...

Have a favourite tree in Calne? Please take a photo and submit it to our tree competition. As well as receiving a certificate, the winner will have a tree planted for them in a public space. For more info, follow the link: Calne Tree of the Year Competition (calneinbloom.co.uk) TreeComp by Tim Havenith

Castlefields Canal & River Park Association is one of our It's Your Neighbourhood community groups, caring for Castlefields and the River Marden for over two decades.  Here is a brief introduction to CARP and an update on their latest projects by their Chair, Denis Robinson: Castlefields Canal and River Park Association (CARP) is a local registered charity, established in 2001. Its aims are to preserve, protect, develop and improve the environment of the River Marden Valley. We work with landowners, local authorities, other community groups and individuals to achieve these aims. In the longer term we would like to include incorporation of areas downstream from Castlefields as a country park (i.e. the River Marden Valley). We have working parties held on one Sunday every month, where volunteers carry out maintenance/improvement tasks in the park. Every year we enter Its Your Neighbourhood (IYN) and consistently achieve Level 5 Outstanding. In 2022 the public voted Castlefields ...

Beechy, the winner of the second Calne Tree of the Year competition is a 20m high copper beech with a girth of 4.8 metres entered by Denis Robinson of Quemerford. Here is Beechy's story, as told by Denis: My name is Fagus sylvatica f. purpurea you can call me Beechy. Some say I am over 150 years old and that I am amongst the first of my family from Germany to be planted in England. Well, I don't know about that. What I do know is that I have stood here, through drought, flood, storm, heatwave and frost. During my life, much has happened. Kings and Queens have reigned and passed on. There were times of peace, and times of war. The land I stand on, and on which I live, has been part of a garden enjoyed by the owners and their friends. As their fortune's waned ownership passed to the community. Still, I remained. Sometimes I was cared for but sometimes neglected and ignored. One day I was joined by my very distant cousin Taxus baccata. How he arrived by my side I don't rem...