Concept visualisation
Woody's Greenhouse West Sussex project in development
A place to
grow.
No barriers.
Woody's Greenhouse is a project to create a purpose-built, fully accessible place for growing, learning and community.
A first-of-its-kind accessible greenhouse in the making.
The starting point
Being able to enter isn't the same as being able to take part.
Woody's starts there.
Start with the person and the work, then design outward. Ask what someone wants to grow, how they will reach it and who they want to work alongside. The routes, beds and shared spaces should follow.
Where Woody's began
Gardening has been a shared passion for Marc and Deborah throughout their 37 years together. After Marc’s accident, 13 months in hospital and a long rehabilitation, returning to their beloved Summerley Estate after five years away made that connection all the more precious.
It was during one of Marc’s regular Tuesday FaceTime chats with his dear friend and fellow resident, Neil Chisman, that the idea began. Neil, treasurer of his local allotment, mentioned that a half plot had become available and generously offered to find volunteers to grow fruit and vegetables for Marc.
It was a lovely thought. But Marc had a different question: what if wheelchair users could do the gardening themselves?
Within an hour, the idea had grown from a half plot into a double plot with a fully accessible, double-glazed, heated greenhouse for year-round gardening.
Why stop there?
Why not create somewhere everyone could enjoy growing together?
And just like that, the seed of Woody's Greenhouse was sown.
Imagine the life of the place
What could happen here?
Growing, learning and ordinary time together. These scenes imagine the life of a greenhouse still to be built.
Grow something.
Plant, tend and harvest at working spaces people can use side by side.
Learn by doing.
Horticultural workshops and school visits could put practical skills into more hands.
Stay a while.
Conversation and ordinary time alongside others matter as much as a formal activity.
Those moments depend on the place itself: room to move, work within reach and space to do it together.
See how access shapes the designThe physical difference
Designed to be used,
not merely entered.
A welcome at the door is only a beginning. The design has to support the activity that happens beyond it.
- Move
- Clear routes and turning space between working areas.
- Reach
- Growing beds and surfaces usable from seated positions.
- Work together
- Shared places to garden beside other people.
- Move between
- Inside and outside considered as one usable environment.
The person behind the idea
How Marc thinks.
Marc joined the Royal Navy as a boy sailor, just a month after his 16th birthday. He trained as a Radio Operator and communicator in voice, Morse code and semaphore, and his service took him around the world.
In 1989, he entered the specialist world of abnormal-load transport and went on to build EAF Logistics, coordinating the movement of oversized loads throughout Europe for the next 33 years.
“Find a simple solution
to a difficult problem.”
That philosophy became the cornerstone of Marc’s business life, bringing together the right people and expertise to solve complex logistical problems. Woody’s Greenhouse applies exactly the same thinking to a very different challenge: removing the barriers that prevent wheelchair users from gardening independently.
Project status
An active project.
A greenhouse still to build.
Woody's has a clear purpose. The first physical place and the arrangements to deliver it are still being worked through.
Marc's ambition is for Woody's to be the first of its kind in the UK. The immediate task is to make one greenhouse work.
- The idea
- Marc is leading the project, with access and shared participation at its centre.
- The first greenhouse
- It has not yet been built or opened.
- The route ahead
- The final site, detailed design, organisational structure and funding arrangements remain open.
- What comes next
- Shape a practical, fundable first greenhouse with the people who can help make it work.
Get involved
Could you help
this take root?
Woody's needs useful conversations with people who can help shape and move the first greenhouse forward.
Contact Woody's GreenhouseGrowing knowledge
and practical skills
Materials, equipment
and partnerships
Access insight, schools
and community links
Or email contact@woodys-greenhouse.co.uk