Food Glorious Food

Young visitors to Wicken Fen helped to re-instate the cottage garden of the fen's historic Fen Cottage during the recent half term school holidays.

The project was part of the National Trust's Food Glorious Food initiative to encourage children and their families to grow and eat their own fresh produce.

The children helped weed and dig over the borders and planted lettuce, beetroot, parsnips and beans and recycled pasta and yoghurt pots to make decorative flower pots. Children were also given packets of salad, carrots and thyme seeds to grow at home.

"The aim was to show just how fun and easy it is to grow fantastic tasting food" says Learning Officer, Fiona Symonds. "You don't need a big garden - its amazing what you can grow on a tiny plot or in pots and hanging baskets".

Wicken Fen volunteers also produced a series of recipe ideas using plants growing in the cottage garden, including rhubarb and rose petal jam and lavender sugar.