Green light for new Tebay Services mental health and kitchen garden project

Growing Well at Tebay Services aims to help 100 people a year in Eden and North Cumbria recover from mental health difficulties by providing volunteering opportunities for one day a week for up to a year. Credit: Growing Well

Plans for a new mental health project and kitchen garden at Tebay Services have been approved by Eden District Council.

Proposals were submitted by the owners - the Westmorland Family - for an unused part of the Tebay Services Caravan Park to be used for horticultural and educational purposes.

Tebay Services has entered into a partnership with local charity Growing Well, which will run the site.

The Kendal-based organic farm and mental health charity, which has helped hundreds of people in South Cumbria recover from mental health problems since 2004, will open its second Growing Well site in January.

Growing Well at Tebay Services aims to help 100 people a year in Eden and North Cumbria recover from mental health difficulties by providing volunteering opportunities for one day a week for up to a year.

Under the supervision of experienced therapeutic growers and mental health support staff, volunteers can rebuild confidence, learn new skills, benefit from peer support and find help to achieve their goals, such as returning to employment or education.   

Volunteers can apply directly, or through a referral from their GP or other health services.

The Westmorland Family is funding the £150,000 capital cost of creating the kitchen garden, which will supply £40,000 a year of fresh produce directly to the services’ farmshops and kitchens just a few hundred metres away on site.

The National Lottery Community Fund has also granted Growing Well £180,000 of funding towards running costs over the first two years.

Work will start later this month, erecting polytunnels, creating raised beds and installing a modular building to provide a meeting, office, welfare and social space for staff and volunteers.

Paul Cambre, Growing Well’s Head of Horticulture, said: "What a thrill to see the next stage for Growing Well in our partnership with Tebay Services and The National Lottery Community Fund.

"From January, we can welcome people to join us in the kitchen garden on their recovery into good mental health, from rural Eden, Penrith and Carlisle. We can’t wait to get started!"

Growing Well will also be recruiting support volunteers, who support the staff working with its beneficiaries, volunteer minibus drivers, and volunteer community ambassadors and fundraisers.

At the launch of the project earlier this year, Growing Well’s Chief Executive Mary Smith said: "We are thrilled to be partnering with the Westmorland Family to bring our unique model to a second site in Cumbria, which will open up our service not only to the people of rural Eden and Penrith, but up the M6 as far as Carlisle.

Growing Well Chief Executive Mary Smith. Credit: Growing Well

"There are big gaps in mental health services, an ever-growing need post-Covid, and rural isolation is a particular problem."

Westmorland Family Chair, Sarah Dunning, said: "We are delighted to be to working in partnership with Growing Well on a project that will help to address one of the great needs in our community, which is mental health.

"We are a business that has locally sourced food at its heart, so we are excited about being able to source freshly harvested, pesticide-free salads and vegetables on our own doorstep."

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