Caretakers Project

Stories, guides and offerings for London’s green & blue spaces.

The Caretakers Project was set up to capture and archive valuable local knowledge on community-led land stewardship. The project aims to create a helpful resource that could inspire and up-skill others working or volunteering in similar roles.

Through a series of knowledge exchange sessions the project explored various themes centered around urban land-care. Some guide examples include;

How to become a caretaker — sharing challenges and opportunities when stepping forwards to help care for urban green spaces.

How to care for caretakers — a guide on how to support one another when stewarding the land, including strategies for self-and collective care.

A guide on non-intervention vs. intervention land work — focusing on the delicate balance between allowing natural processes to unfold and when intervention might be necessary for the health and sustainability of the ecosystem.

A user’s guide for icky jobs — a light-hearted but practical guide addressing the less glamorous but essential tasks involved in land stewardship.

Over the next few months we will be publishing more of these experimental guides on our website. Please have a read, try them out and give us feedback on their usefulness.

We are also seeking submissions from other caretakers of London’s green and blue spaces. You can access our online submission form and our tips page using these links:

The Caretakers Project is a collaboration between the London National Park City and Bethnal Green Nature Reserve.