The Mini Gardeners Club

The Mini Gardeners Club is where The Gardeners Co. CIC began. We focus on encouraging children to connect with nature through exploration of the garden. Our mission is to inspire the next generation of gardeners, instilling a lifelong love of plants and investment in the natural environment. We believe that gardening is not only an enjoyable pastime, but also a valuable educational tool that can help children develop important skills such as problem-solving, responsibility, and creativity. Through our workshops and events, we aim to create a fun and engaging environment where children can learn, play, and connect with nature.

We offer regular children's gardening workshops for educational settings, community groups and families. These workshops are held in a variety of locations; our Home Farm garden, schools, community gardens and private gardens. Our workshops are suitable for children of all ages and skill levels and are designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to gardening. Children will learn about how to grow and care for different types of plants whilst supporting all areas of educational curriculum and learning. We provide the opportunity for children to plant their own seeds and take home their own produce. The garden provides an incredible opportunity to boost wellbeing, supporting confidence, self esteem, resilience, problem solving, teamwork and more!

Our workshops are designed to be fun and interactive, and we provide all the necessary equipment and materials. Children will learn how to plant seeds, care for plants, and harvest their own produce as well as enjoying garden-themed crafts and explorations.

You’ll always find our simple soil science digging pits and nature library to explore. Our favourite activities include simple gardening tasks such as weeding and watering, seed sowing and growing, potting on and planting up. You’ll find exciting cardboard crafts, flower pounding to dye fabric, wildflower seed bombs, foraged creations, clay crafts and nature weaving to name just a few!

Our current groups include:

• Little Buds (under 5s and childminders) - Wednesdays 9.30-11.30
• Little Buds toddler + baby group - Thursdays 9.30-11.30
• Home Education Gardening Sessions - Thursdays 11-12.30 (4-10s) and 1-2.30 (11-16s)
• Family Gardening Sessions - one Sunday per month 

Summer holiday clubs

This year we're offering a summer gardening club from 9am to 3pm on Tuesdays at our Home Farm garden. Find out more and book your space here.

Your children will have the opportunity to get stuck into our gardens at Home Farm, from growing fruit, veg and flowers to mushrooms and microgreens. What's more, we'll spend time in the walled gardens at Arlington Court National Trust throughout the summer doing a wide range of seasonal jobs. We'll head off on walks around the estate, treasure hunts, play garden games and get creative with a wide range of craft activities too.

We'll provide a snack and drinks each day, and children will be welcome to take home any produce ready to harvest in the gardens each week.

These sessions are designed for children aged 4-10 years of age and this is one of our only childcare offers.

Birthday parties in Barnstaple

From 2024 we're thrilled to announce that we are now offering birthday party packages in Barnstaple for children aged 2-12 at our base at Arlington Court. If you're interested in finding out more about what we can offer please get in touch with us via our social channels @thegardenersco, or via email: hello@thegardenerscollective.co.uk.