#Dartington Trust, once a global reference point for sustainable education and progressive arts, is now abandoning any of that values. They abruptly closed the Schumacher College leaving both staff and students stranded (after they already paid their fees), and now are selling away the Forest Garden, a pioneering 31-yrs-old agroforesty project. For context, it might be worth to know that few months ago, the trust opened a high tech shiny gym

#ClimateDiary #environment

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/19/forest-garden-dartington-estate-devon-landowner-serves-notice

Here's a video of Martin Crawford talking about what a forest garden is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u75q3KaZGy4

Save the #DartingtonForestGarden

This page is dedicated to our fight against our landlord’s (#DartingtonHallTrust) decision to evict us from our 31-year-old #ForestGarden in #Dartington, #DevonUK. Here you’ll find latest updates and press releases, and also your tributes to the forest garden and what it means to you, and why it should be preserved.

Update Sun 16 March 2025

"Morning to all our wonderful supporters!

"The petition to save our forest garden has gathered over 7,500 signatures in two days which is AMAZING.

"I think our landlords DHT may have been surprised and shocked both by the level of support and by the passion shown, so thank you all again.

"Before we went public, we did in fact write to CEO Robert Fedder at DHT a week ago, explaining why the forest garden was such an important resource, and asking them to retract their notice to quit. We also told him that there would be considerable public support and inevitable bad PR for them. Clearly DHT didn’t want a sensible dialogue at that time ….

"Our focus now is persuading DHT to sell the forest garden site to us. We know there are supporters out there itching to get crowdfunding so anyone with good experience of this please get in touch – we may need you!

"We heard a report that someone shouted abuse at Dartington staff yesterday. Please don’t. DHT front line staff are not responsible for DHT decisions.

"We are so touched by all the messages of support, this really means a lot so thanks again everyone."

Source:
https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/save-dartington-forest-garden/
#forestgarden #forestgardening #regenerativeagriculture
#SaveDarlingtonForestGarden #SolarPunkSunday #FoodForest #UK

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Sorry to hear courses at #Schumacher College have been closed with immediate effect by the #Dartington Hall Trust, due to continued money losses. I remember it as an amazing place with various short courses on #sustainability and a Masters in Holistic Sciences certified by #Plymouth University. A small community in the Devon countryside, practising what they preach.

The staff are hoping to find a way to continue their amazing work. https://www.totnespulse.co.uk/degree-courses-at-schumacher-college-are-being-shut-with-immediate-effect/