Four remarkable environmental initiatives across Devon have been named finalists in the environmental category of BBC Radio Devon’s Make a Difference Awards, recognising their transformative work in making communities greener, wilder, and healthier. The finalists—Growing Well Garden in Bow, Sampford Peverell Tree Wardens, Shallowford Farm on Dartmoor, and Sustainable Hatherleigh—each represent grassroots movements that are reshaping how local communities engage with nature. Winners will be announced during a ceremony at Buckfast Abbey on 24 September.
Cultivating Health Through Green Prescribing
Growing Well Garden stands at the intersection of healthcare and horticulture. As part of a pioneering green social prescribing initiative, the project harnesses the therapeutic power of gardening to support wellbeing.
Dr Susan Taheri, an NHS GP at Bow Medical Practice and founder of Growing Well Garden, describes the scheme as having reignited her passion for general practice. Meeting patients in a garden setting, she explains, offers a fundamentally different experience from a sterile consulting room.
“There’s a lot more getting your hands dirty and not worrying too much about germs,” she said, calling the garden her “happy place.”
The project embodies a powerful truth: the most important thing we cultivate isn’t vegetables or flowers—it’s people and connections.
Nurturing the Next Generation of Environmental Stewards
On Shallowford Farm in the heart of Dartmoor, retired horticulturalist Charles Staniland is passing on his lifelong love of the outdoors to young people who might otherwise have little exposure to rural life.
Staniland believes in showing children and teenagers that food doesn’t simply materialise on a plate—it’s grown through effort, patience, and care. His work aims to bridge the gap between urban existence and the natural world.
“It takes people out of a concrete environment,” he explained. “It’s a very good first step into a greener environment.”
By getting his students’ hands dirty, Staniland hopes to “encourage a new generation to understand and value the world around them”—a vision rooted in both ecological science and personal experience, as his own passion for gardening began in early childhood.
Community-Powered Conservation
The Sampford Peverell Tree Wardens represent grassroots environmental action at its finest. This independent, volunteer-based group takes collective responsibility for the parish’s green spaces, working alongside local councils and landowners to plant, protect, and maintain trees and hedgerows on publicly owned land.
Their achievements speak volumes: approximately 750 trees have been planted, creating vital wildlife corridors that connect fragmented habitats across the landscape. For coordinator Pete Drew, environmental stewardship is inseparable from community spirit—often literally powered by homemade cake.
“It’s about taking pride in where you live and making local spaces better for everyone,” Drew said.
A Town Transformed Through Biodiversity
Sustainable Hatherleigh has woven environmental consciousness into the fabric of daily life in the mid-Devon town. Their diverse portfolio includes leading bug hunts, encouraging wildflowers in the local graveyard, organising community composting, and running a repair café that extends the lifespan of everyday objects.
Their urban nature site has now achieved formal recognition as a county wildlife site—a testament to what’s possible when a community commits to biodiversity. Led by Jo Pullin, the initiative represents a vision of resilience: a future where human settlement and the natural world thrive together rather than in opposition.
Why it Matters
These four finalists embody a truth increasingly supported by scientific research: that environmental engagement and human wellbeing are inextricably linked. Whether through therapeutic gardening, youth education, tree planting, or biodiversity projects, each initiative demonstrates that addressing the ecological crisis requires not grand technological fixes but rather thousands of local, human-scale interventions. As climate change accelerates and biodiversity continues its alarming decline, the work happening in Bow, Sampford Peverell, Dartmoor, and Hatherleigh offers more than environmental benefits—it provides blueprints for communities seeking to reclaim agency over their relationship with the natural world. The recognition from BBC Radio Devon’s Make a Difference Awards shines a well-deserved spotlight on approaches that are both scientifically sound and deeply human.
