Community Projects

 

Becoming an essential part of our local community is at the heart of our vision for The Village.

Using local producers and growers, connecting those supplies to the community, learning how we can all become more sustainable, and discovering ways to make this as easy as possible means everything to us. If we can achieve this, well, we can then get some sleep. Perhaps.

 

Community Interest Company.

Being a not-for-profit company means we have to become sustainable in the first instance; cover our costs to function and support our network of businesses based within the Village itself.

Thereafter, any profits beyond that are reinvested straight back into the project, to further benefit the wider community.

 

Community Garden.

One such project is our Community Garden, which we are very excited about as it was an integral part of our vision from the beginning.

Fronted by the lovely Bethia, our Head Grower, and maintained by volunteers there are big plans for plenty of sustainable planting, a campfire, a beehive, and a huge living wall!

Bethia has designed the garden to be fully accessible, with raised beds for planting, and a zip-wire pully system in place in order to move tools across the garden aiding those with low mobility.

With support from Slow The Flow, there will be a huge water irrigation system in place to utilise rainwater rather than mains supply, and we will obviously be making the most of our compost created in Compost Corner!

Work will begin in earnest in June this year, so keep watching here and on our Instagram for regular updates!

 

Compost Corner.

At the far end of our Village lies Compost Corner. Whilst that might not sound the most appealing of destinations, it's actually doing a very good thing! Promise.

Pete and Judy, our Master Composters, oversee a selection of composting methods in progress, including a wormery! Each does a wonderful job of ensuring food scraps from the Café, and other appropriate food waste, is managed on-site and kept to a minimum.

Andy from Pearman's Farm Shop has used some of this compost on his Market Garden, nurturing the soil ready for his seasonal fruit and veg grown for his stall. We are excited that the compost will be used in earnest now the Community Garden is being constructed too!

 

Community Room | The Studio

We were lucky enough to have been awarded funding from Severn Trent's Community Fund to transform a dry, dusty upstairs room, into an innovative new community space!

In January 2020, Severn Trent launched its Community Fund which supports new projects in the local communities. They will be giving away more than £10 million over five years as a part of the Fund.

The grant allowed us to refurbish the room with new flooring, doors, tables, chairs and equipment, plus bespoke room divides allowing the space to be used most efficiently. To enhance this further, and pull together the vision for the Village as a whole, we are thrilled that local artist, Katie Brosnan, has created a beautiful mural for us which was funded as part of the Severn Trent grant. 

The space is used for educational and business events, creative classes, yoga and children's activities. To enquire about availability and to book the studio please email events@eco-village.co.uk For more information please check out our dedicated page all about the room.  

 

Fixer's Cabin.

We are proud to now be the permanent home for the Market Harborough Fixers!

With a freshly refurbished shipping container, complete with fancy wooden cladding that we adore, the Fixer's are here to save perfectly usable items being discarded into landfill.

Regular Saturday Repair Workshops are now taking place, with a team of Fixers every week on hand to help repair -

• Electricals
• Jewellery
• Textiles
• Elecro-mechanical conformed items

With a specialist team in place for each workshop, the collective aim is to restore, repair, recycle and reduce landfill waste. But further, to save customers from buying new when their current item can work perfectly again.

Steve and the team of Fixer's log each repair. Calculating both the repair cost and CO2 reduction, saved by eliminating harmful landfill emissions.

Follow Market Harborough Fixers on Instagram for repair news and all the upcoming workshop dates!

 

Grant applications.

In order to support the wider community, it is extremely important to us to be a fully inclusive destination. We are currently applying for a number of grants to help improve our accessibility here at the EcoVillage.

We will keep you updated with any developments on this as and when it's possible!

 

Volunteers.

It takes an army to create a Village...

And it truly does. With so much happening behind the scenes, and so much more yet to do, we are always on the lookout for helpful volunteers with a wide array of skills that help to keep the Village ticking over.

Whether that's litter picking, weeding the courtyard, shredding cardboard, DIY jobs, or helping out with our Community Garden; there is always something to do if you have an hour or two to spare occasionally!

We are so lucky to have a wonderful bank of volunteers already and are very appreciative of the time and skills that they provide.

To join them, and us, please email us with your contact details, and we'll pass you onto our coordinator, Sam.

 

Get in touch.

We're so excited to see the vision really start to take shape, and our little community blossom and grow even further.

Want to become more involved with any of our projects? Please get in touch for more information or let us know how you could help, by emailing the team.