York Minster and the award-wining hotel Grays Court and The Bow Room have ‘broken ground’ on creating a new ‘no dig’ food garden for the hotel and local food banks.

The site, which also houses a statue of St Peter, is between the hotel and the Minster.

Grays Court Head Gardener, Jules Fern, says the edible garden will feature best practice in being organic and sustainable, with no pesticides and herbicides used.

The scheme has been helped by Brunswick Organic Nursery in Bishopthorpe proving vegetable seedlings and Beacon Alpaca Farm in Husthwaite donating alpaca manure.

Jules explains the garden will be ‘no dig’ so as not to disturb the microrganisms that live within the soil.

“With a no-dig garden we nurture the soil by applying generous top-dressings of mulch, and the soil, in turn, nurtures the plants growing in it.”

Canon Maggie McLean, who leads The Minster’s Environmental Sustainability programme, said: “Our gardening teams will work to transform this plot of land into a productive and beautiful kitchen garden using techniques that will benefit soil and plant health and create a habitat that will attract a diverse range of pollinators.  We look forward to next spring and summer when the new garden will really come into its own.”

The initial programme of works on the garden are due to be completed by Christmas with the first harvest of produce expected in the Spring.