AFTER seven years of fundraising Dartmouth’s new £100,000 community greenhouse has arrived in town.

The Victorian style ‘Grand Manor’ structure has been erected in the Dartmouth Community Garden on the riverfront at the junction with Mayor’s Avenue on the site of the old depot. Dartmouth Green Partnerships volunteers raised the funds over the last seven years, after the old community greenhouse was demolished in 2015.

Stevie Rogers, Chairman of Dartmouth Green Partnerships, said: “We’re delighted to have the new community greenhouse and are working to get it up and running. It’ll be used to raise plants for the many floral displays we create around Dartmouth. We plan to hold events there for people to gain horticultural knowledge and skills, and for it to become a centre of horticultural excellence. Many thanks to all our generous donors and sponsors, and to our volunteers for their hard work in getting the necessary funding.”

The new greenhouse was designed and built by Hartley Botanic Ltd as a spacious rectangle with a front porch, made from toughened glass and olive coloured powder coated aluminium on a brick plinth, decorated with finials along the roofline.

Stevie said: ‘We had to change the plan from a bespoke pyramid design, to reduce the size and cost, as raising funds became more difficult due to Covid pressures.

The cost of more than £100,000 includes site preparation, structure and fittings. Two grants of £20,000 came from the Postcode Local Trust in 2017 and 2019, a charity funded entirely by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery. The rest has come from generous donors, smaller grant funding and volunteer fundraising efforts.