About Five Acres Community Garden

Five Acres Community Gardens CIC was founded by Debbie and Gavin Iceton and officially opened in May 2021 after months of careful planning and dedication.

While running their transport business, Debbie and Gavin became increasingly aware of the significant reduction in services available for young adults with additional needs. Recognizing the growing gap in opportunities, they were inspired to create a unique space where young adults could develop essential social, independent living, and employability skills.

Their vision was to transform a five-acre field they owned into a thriving agricultural and horticultural centre, offering a hands-on, practical approach to learning. They believed that working with nature would provide a meaningful and engaging way for young adults to build confidence, gain new skills, and enhance their future prospects.

From this idea, Five Acres Community Gardens CIC was born—a place where learning flourishes, independence grows, and a strong sense of community is cultivated.

The Five Acre Dream 

On the 24th June 2022 planning permission was passed by Darlington Borough Council. 21/00753/FUL

This is our proposed plan for the five acres of land we have at Brafferton, it will be used for agricultural, animal care, a farm to fork programme selling home grown vegetable to local businesses and also using them in our own barn café on site. We will also have a selection of animals and hope that local schools and other care facilities will access our site .

Community Garden

On site there will be a Community Garden which will include a sensory area that the champions will help design.  This will include an area to explore using their sense of smell and touch, like berries and herbs and scented flowers. We will introduce a design area incorporating colour and different styles that our champions create themselves. There will be accessible raised walkways throughout the site as well as raised beds to make it easy for wheelchair users to work at waist height in the polytunnels.

Animal Care

The project will expand upon the animal care activities we have at Rof 59.

We know that animal care is a form of therapy which can have a positive effect on mental health and sense of wellbeing.  We noticed that after the pandemic, when a lot of our young adults were isolated, their mental health and social skills deteriorated. Introducing animal care is a therapy aid in itself – being around horses, pygmy goats, rabbits and chickens is a stimulant and helps us feel good.

How You Can Help

This is a Community Project, we are looking for support to get this project off the ground and any help or support you could offer would be an amazing start. 

This project will benefit so many lives, from our champions to the local community and also local schoolchildren which will come together to be part of this amazing venture.

If you feel you can support us in anyway please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information or to come for a visit.