Rose Garden Volunteering
Friendly volunteers meet twice a month to restore and maintain the Castle Wood and Jack Wood rose gardens. If you fancy a bit of fresh air and gardening in the woods (well sort of), come and join us. It would be helpful if you could bring your own hand tools etc.
The restoration of the Rose Gardens in Castle Wood and Jack Wood are among our ongoing projects, and we are working closely on this with the Royal Borough of Greenwich's Parks & Open Spaces Dept.
Many visitors to the woods have fond memories of the beautiful rose gardens, which mark the sites of the demolished Castlewood (near Severndroog Castle) and Jackwood houses. The gardens have long provided tranquil and open spaces in the heart of the ancient woodland.
The Friends of Oxleas Woodlands (FOW) were sad to find that the roses in the historic rose gardens in Castle Wood had been removed, leaving the much-loved area looking bare and covered in weeds. The volunteers are determined to restore this area back to its former beauty, drawing on the original planting scheme. With contributions from supporters we have now purchased and planted 265 roses. In 2020 we installed an information board which includes information about the varieties of roses planted, the history of the woods, the Friends of Oxleas Woodlands and the names of donors.
Check our calendar for dates, or email us for details.
We have a mixture of Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to allow as many volunteers as possible to participate. Rose Garden volunteers meet at 10am on weekend dates, and 2pm on Friday dates.
Please email oxleas.volunteers@gmail.com for more information - especially as the weather can affect dates and times.
