Windmill Hills Centre, Bensham, Gateshead

The Comfrey Project’s headquarters is the Windmill Hills community garden in Gateshead.

The garden changes with the seasons and throughout the year you can see crops like the more familiar sweetcorn, onions and broad beans growing alongside leafy couve galega, bilolo, rue and bissap, as many of our participants choose to grow crops native to their homelands.

It’s a place which is buzzing with activity and also buzzing with bees, which live in our five beehives and are looked after by a qualified beekeeper and his assistants. Wildflowers and a pond provide food and habitats for the bees and other wildlife.

As well as the garden, Bensham is also home to our headquarters building, which is leased to The Comfrey Project by Gateshead Council. This is where we hold workshops and events, and where our staff are based.

This space is also a community resource, with local groups holding a range of activities, and our volunteers helping to manage the building.

When you visit, be sure to take a look at the jobs board which lists all the current tasks – there is always some veg to harvest or some weeds to pull up.