Our Yard at Clitterhouse Farm: A Small Place with a Big Heart

Perched at the top of Clitterhouse Playing Fields, Our Yard, a warm and welcoming cafe surrounded by lovingly tended herb and vegetable gardens, is the kind of welcoming and uplifting inclusive space that communities dream of but seldom so successfully achieve. 

The project started ten years ago when four locals got together to discuss whether they could create some kind of community space at Clitterhouse Farm.

Records of the farm go as far back as the 1300s and the last cows were only sold off in 1925, but by 2013, the remaining out buildings had fallen into disrepair. Keen to preserve a piece of local history and create something community led, the group began talking to local people to find out exactly what they wanted and needed. According to Paulette Singer, one of Our Yard’s four co-founders:

Paulette, who previously worked with homelessness charities and in prisons, has seen endless evidence of the benefits of a ‘third space’ –  places where people have access to a community and aren’t expected to buy anything – but noted that they normally engender labels: people can access a certain centre because they’re homeless or suffering from mental health issues. Our Yard is consciously a third space without labels: a place where everyone is welcome, full stop. 

Following a successful campaign to have the buildings saved for community use, the group started holding outdoor events: mini festivals, art workshops, mindfulness, BMX, yoga, pop up galleries, and eventually built a tiny 6x25ft cafe which ran for three years.

A crowdfunding appeal followed, and due to its incredible success (it received the highest number of community pledges of all the London crowdfunds), the Mayor’s Office matched it with an unprecedented £50k.

The cafe is now a beautiful, warm space filled with the aroma of wholesome home cooked food and the gentle hum of good conversation. The refurbished building also houses Sean’s Loaf, a bakery which services the cafe and delivers baked goods around the neighbourhood, mindfulness art sessions, and Potter’s Pocket, which holds community pottery classes. Forest school sessions, one for under fives and one for older kids, are currently being trialled in the garden too. 

The farmyard around the buildings, meanwhile, has become a flourishing community garden – the jewel in the project’s crown. Volunteer sessions run on Thursdays from 10 – 3 and on Saturdays from 11 – 3, and anyone who wants to join in can come down, no signup is required. 

There’s always a lot to do, says Anika, the garden’s manager, “and not just gardening. Some people like to grow vegetables,  some only flowers, some struggle to bend and are happier in the greenhouse or creating signs for the herb garden.”

The vegetables grown in the garden are used in the cafe, with excess shared by the volunteers, or given away when there’s a glut. 

“Some people come because they want to grow vegetables, some people want to make the park look a bit nicer. Other people come to meet people and to talk and to spend time in nature and its a nice place for people to come together and make connections”

In a city that can sometimes feel cold, unwelcoming, and driven by commerce, a place with no agenda other than to serve the community is a precious thing.

Our Yard is everything you could hope for from a community led project,  a friendly space where everyone is welcome, anyone can get involved, and local people can have a say in the facilities and services provided.

To have such a space so close to Brent Cross Town is a blessing indeed.

Find out more on ouryard.org and follow them on  instagram or twitter.

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