Keep Burnley Beautiful: Charter Walk's Budding Burnley sensory garden and allotment is a haven in the heart of the town centre

But that’s exactly what you will find Burnley town centre. The Budding Burnley Sensory Walkway was opened last year, transforming a blank space into a community project with an allotment, garden and walkway.

It’s a wonderful little green haven, away from the noise and busy atmosphere of the town centre and a real gem in the town. The focus of this week’s Burnley Express ‘Keep Burnley Beautiful’ campaign the garden is run by head gardener Laurence Miles and a team of volunteers who are Ashley Gracey, Colin Hughes, Helen Beech and Terry Carlton. The team donate their time on Tuesdays and Fridays to help maintain the plants and flowers an they also assist with free community workshops including sunflower growing, sewing seeds and pumpkin carving at Hallowe’en.

A key element of the project are planters that are accessible to adults and children in wheelchairs. All these sessions are free to attend, those who take part can take their creations home and it encourages people to be creative.

All the fresh fruit and vegetables that are grown in the sensory garden such as carrots, peas, green beans, spring onions etc are donated to Down Town Community Grocery and local food banks. And the project helped Charter Walk to win an award this year. The centre was presented with the gold International Corporate Responsibility Society Excellence Award at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Centre Manager Debbie Hernon said: “The award was given for our on-going activities for our community incorporating our amazing sensory garden and allotment, which is a popular peaceful place for people to visit, and our community corner that is a welcoming free space for local groups to hold events and workshops.”

The allotment is also used for other initiatives - autism awareness, as a quiet space at one end as part of the inclusivity and sensory ongoing work and at the other end is home to a ‘Happy to Chat’ bench for mental health and loneliness. In November 2021 the shopping centre was given an award from Britain in Bloom competition for its colourful floral displays.