A photo taken at the Kent Community Oasis Garden. There are five students there with their produce and holding the East Kent Mind logo.

Lewis (right) and students volunteer at KentCOG

Kent Community Oasis Garden

Kent Community Oasis Garden Programme 

The Kent COG garden is a multiuse, accessible, safe space that provides opportunities for students, staff and the community to engage with sustainable food, biodiversity, gardening, community action and mental health and wellbeing activities, whilst making new friends, getting some time outdoors, building up skills, confidence and making new links.

The Kent Community Oasis Garden is a multi-use space for the community and University of Kent staff and students located at the edge of the Canterbury campus. The project is delivered by East Kent Mind in collaboration with the university.

The CoG offers two weekly sessions on Wednesdays and Fridays for participants to engage with general gardening activities. Individuals can just turn up and spend between one and 4 hours per session outdoors, working with a facilitator or other professional in a group setting, taking part in growing activities, sharing knowledge and learning new skills. In addition, they offer monthly Saturday sessions focused on developing and maintaining wellbeing for all, and seasonal Sunday sessions, promoting sustainability and exploring our connection with the natural environment.

KentCOG is eager to liaise with individuals to make the programme appropriate for their needs. They are experienced in working with a variety of needs and the site is partially accessible for wheelchair users. The CoG is working towards creating a fully accessible site and any feedback is welcome. We are happy to show students and staff around the garden and discuss their particular needs or requirements, as well as offering additional sessions to try out activities and to discuss ideas.

The programme can be accessed by visiting the garden on a regular basis throughout the year, or by liaising with staff at the University or via Mind to agree a specific block of sessions for individuals or groups which can be delivered on site

To register for any of the KentCoG session, please fill in our registration form on our Wellbeing Activities page: Wellbeing Activities

For further information, contact: kentcog@kent.ac.uk