Our Projects
As a community, we enjoy working on a range of projects across the Garden and local green spaces. Everything from art exhibitions to citizen science projects! You can learn more about the work we’re doing below and reach out if there’s anything you’d like to be part of!
Pollinators such as bees and butterflies have dramatically declined in the UK over recent years due to habitat loss, climate change and the use of pesticides. We want to help reverse this trend! If it can be done in Clerkenwell - one of the most built-up neighbourhoods in the UK - it can be done anywhere. We hope to inspire other neighbourhoods to play an active role in protecting pollinators and restoring nature.
Art and culture play a significant role in the Garden and neighbourhood. Surrounded by a vibrant community of creatives, designers, architects and makers, the park contains a number of art works highlighting the connection. In 2017 and again in 2024, the Friends of St John’s Garden, alongside artist Emma Douglas and curator Ishbel Mull pulled together several incredible artists to showcase their art in the garden for a week-long open-air exhibition.
In Autumn 2024, enhancements in St John's Garden included additional planting beds, a new tool shed, a community welcome board, bee hotels, bird boxes and a striking wildlife pond. With community involvement at its heart and nature restoration as a goal, the project aimed to create a restorative, green oasis where people could relax in nature, socialise with friends, and care for our small but vital public park.
We're lucky to be located in Clerkenwell, London's 'first village,' with 900 years of history to explore. Created and installed by volunteers in Spring 2025, the Hidden Histories Trail is a series of interpretation boards dotted across the Garden, accompanied by an illustrated map, surfacing little-known stories and encouraging visitors to pause and reflect on the past lives of the Garden and the people who walked its paths.
What was once a kitchen garden in Medieval London is being transformed into Farringdon’s first Edible Forest! This project is loads of fun for the people involved and a fantastic source of food for local birds and insects. From mushroom inoculation workshops to planting a tea garden, growing sunflowers from seed and planning a community orchard for the future, Farringdon’s Edible Forest is an ambitious, multi-year project for everyone to enjoy!
We take a data-driven approach to improving biodiversity in the Garden and enjoy monitoring progress and measuring impact with fantastic tools and initiatives such as Flower Insect Timed Counts, the Big Garden Bird Count, eBird surveys, the Big Butterfly Count and OPAL pond testing.