Blooming Whiteway began as a Front Garden Festival in 2017.

Since then we’ve grown in all sorts of ways. Our focus now is around citizen action in response to the climate and ecological emergencies. Action on our doorsteps, at street/community/neighbourhood scale, with an emphasis on soil, water, food. and ecology.

Based on the Whiteway estate we sit between Bath City Farm and open countryside - with our park Whiteway Green at the heart of the estate.

At Blooming Whiteway we see great potential in gardens, private or otherwise, to increase biodiversity, improve food security and bring neighbours together.

We’re keen to grow in and out of gardens and tell the stories of the wildlife who benefit from abundant spaces, along with stories of species that could thrive again if we can tackle nature depletion. 

Including humans.

Why start with a Front Garden Festival?

Garden festivals usually focus on back garden spaces - but the front garden is a totally different animal! Front gardens connect us with our neighbours, with passers by - with the street scene at large - and when we tend them they make us visible as human inhabitants of our homes.

This is why BW started with a Front Garden Festival!

These small spaces at the front of so many of our houses form a mosaic of habitats for all sorts of creatures - they also contribute to our experiences of where we live.

With so many garden hedges ripped out - those over the hedge conversations are much reduced. With gardens paved over for cars - the acoustics are harder and water absorption is much less effective increasing the impact of flash floods. 

How we garden in the front of our homes affects the street, our neighbours down the hill, who we meet and how we interact with humans and the wild.

In our front gardens we can offer fruit or fragrance for passers by - we can plant trees for shade to cool the tarmac, connect our small spaces to make larger green corridors as a community - or increase the biodiversity and make beautiful colourful buzzy spaces.

Our front gardens can be a treat for the street.