Therapy farm facing closure unless new home found

2 hours ago

Cash MurphySouth East

A project which helps people manage their mental health through farming and horticulture says it faces closure unless it can find a new home in under a year.

The Garden Army in West Hoathly, near East Grinstead, is coming into its seventh year after being founded by Tom Morphew, who was inspired by a conversation with a late friend who had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Morphew said his friend Dave, who died from a brain tumour as the idea was coming to fruition, told him to "never give up, never give in and keep going forward".

But the founder says the team now has "11 months to take down everything, pack it up, and move it to a new site".

While the Garden Army was initially conceived for those from a military background, it is now for everyone

Tom Morphew A service user at the Garden Army care farm in West Hoathly, West Sussex. The lady is in a chair and turning to smile at the camera. She is touching soil in small plant pots. — While the Garden Army was initially conceived for those from a military background, it is now for everyone

With a sense that the farm's current location would not its forever home, and now the landlord planning to change its use, Morphew said he had been on the lookout for a while.

While the Garden Army was initially conceived for those from a military background, as Dave was, Morphew said it soon became apparent that the farm needed to be for everyone.

He said: "I really saw that there was this divide in society, where if you have additional needs you go 'here', if you've got PTSD, you go 'here'.

"In the real world, we're all together, all meeting these people all the time, and so understanding how each other work, and how we can help each other, is hugely important."

Now, about 60 adults with mental health concerns or additional needs attend the farm each week, as do about 16 children.

The farm needs to find a new home in just under a year

Tom Morphew A service user at the Garden Army care farm in West Hoathly, West Sussex. The man, who is wearing a hat and black Garden Army t-shirt, is spraying a hose into a bucket, and a dog is attempting to drink from the bucket. — The farm needs to find a new home in just under a year

"The new site needs to be as big as what we've got now, a minimum of 10 acres (4.04 hectares), preferably with outbuildings that we can convert into the canteen and kitchen, and tool room," Morphew said.

"That's not essential, we can get some funding, hopefully, and get some shipping containers."

Mains electric and water would also be "ideal", he said, adding that the aim was to secure a long-term tenancy of 10-15 years.

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