What does Gamrie Gardens do?

Gamrie Gardens is a volunteer-led community growing project in Aberdeenshire, working to support biodiversity, local food access, and practical ecological stewardship.

We provide organic allotment spaces for people to grow their own food, and share beyond-organic produce, seeds, plants, and garden goods through our donation-based honesty shop. We also create opportunities for people to get involved directly through volunteering, hands-on growing, and practical land-based learning.

Alongside food growing, we are working to restore and enrich land that was previously mistreated, turning it into a place that supports both people and wildlife. Since taking on the site, we have planted many native trees and shrubs, added natural ponds, and seen encouraging signs of biodiversity increasing across the land. We’ve observed more frogs and toads, more ladybirds and other insects, and the return and spread of wild plants such as clover, yarrow, St John’s wort, and selfheal — all part of creating richer habitat for the creatures that belong here. Common frogs and common toads are native to Scotland, and plants like selfheal, yarrow, and St John’s wort are well-established components of native or naturalised wildflower habitats and pollinator-friendly grassland.

Our rescue animals are part of this story too. They are loved by visitors, but they also play a practical role in how we care for the land, helping us explore creative, low-impact ways of repairing ground, managing spaces, and demonstrating what regenerative land stewardship can look like in action.

Through orchard planting, wildlife habitat, practical demonstrations, ecological experiments, and shared work on the land, Gamrie Gardens aims to offer real, grounded examples of food sovereignty and community-led ecological care in practice.

At its heart, Gamrie Gardens exists to help create a more biodiverse, abundant, and welcoming place where people, food, wildlife, and community can thrive alongside one another.