Arun Street Garden

Report by Lesley Collyer

This little public garden is situated at the bottom of Arun Street in Arundel, alongside the river. It is south facing, has good light soil and comprises borders with plants and shrubs, some grass, a couple of trees and, most importantly, several benches, where people can sit, admire the garden, chat and picnic with their friends, feed their babies, read or just relax.

Originally the garden was an unloved area that the Arundel Society together with Arun District Council developed into what you see today.  It has been cared for by various local volunteers over the years and now Arundel Gardens Association is involved with its maintenance. The little garden has obviously been well designed and planted in the past because it has, amongst other things, survived very hot dry summers, as well as being used as an access point for the recent work on the river wall. Arun District Council have also been very helpful with structural jobs, such as putting up trellis, relevelling and repaving one of the paths, and mending damaged benches and fences.

AGA volunteers’ main aim is to keep the garden low maintenance but nevertheless interesting all year round. As a result, plants have to be as hardy as possible and not need a lot of attention. Hot summers prove very testing as there is no tap in the garden, and just to keep the plants (tough as they are) alive means much water-carrying from homes. Fortunately, people living nearby are generous with their water so volunteers don’t have to carry heavy containers too far.  But, it is a task that sometimes goes on for weeks.

Bug house kindly donated by Greening Arundel

The garden is an extremely popular little oasis in Arundel and volunteers receive many thanks and compliments on their work from visitors, which is very gratifying and makes all their efforts worthwhile. When there is a bigger or more strenuous job involved such as spreading manure or cutting back the shrubs, the volunteers get together to do the task. Otherwise, they tend to come individually when they have a spare hour or two and the weather is favourable to do some weeding, pruning. sweeping the paths or cutting the grass.

More volunteers would be most welcome but, because of the rather relaxed maintenance schedule that AGA operate, it would be useful if volunteers had some gardening experience so they could work unsupervised. This is not necessarily a lonely job as one often gets chatting to visitors who are curious about the garden and its volunteers. People seem to be intrigued by the fact that it has the look of a private resident’s garden but is in fact a public space open to all.  [Version 2, January 2025]

If you would like to help in the garden, please email aga.sussex@gmail.com

Unloading cargo at the historic port of Arundel – plaque by Josse Davis