Allotment

We Love Sheds

At the community garden we obviously need secure, undercover space for many reasons. But our shed appreciation isn't just about need. We love all of our raggle-taggle, colourful sheds.

Quite a few of our group cycle to the community garden (this IS Cambridge!) We needed to build a bike shed but didn't have any funds. So in a total boss team effort led by Chantelle and Mark we built a shelter from pallets and scrap wood. We found an old bike frame and attached it to the roof; guttering and water buts were added for rain collection; Hebe painted a bright sign; we've all added our hand prints and planted up some old pots for decoration too.

Our 'Barn' was built for us by architecture students from Cambridge University. It's a multi-use space - a social space; undercover work area; tool shed; and it's where we keep our community larder.

Our Beekeeping Shed has two compartments - one for changing into our bee suits and the other is a storage area for the beekeeping equipment.

A local artist, Myles has been painting this amazing mural on it and now the lockdown is opening up again he hopes to return and do some more work on it. But we love it already!

Our Old Tea Shed is now a general storage space and has one of our hand washing stations attached to the back. It also has a lot of art on it, mainly painted by an ex-group-member who sadly died a few years back, so it's lovely to remember him by

The ornamental beach-themed show garden was designed and built in memory of a great seaside trip to Wells-Next-The-Sea in Norfolk a few years back. We loved the beach huts there so the shed has been painted in stripes like a traditional hut.

We've added drought resistant planting, Ruth's old surf board, a hammock, recycled decking, some donated deck chairs and traditional seaside buckets and spades.

And last but not least - our wood store in the Forest Skills/ Wildlife area is an old broken shed that we dried out and re-roofed to store our collected wood, fire bowl and Forest Skills equipment. We're also really looking forward to Vi's Green Man mural that he will be painting on the side of the wood store soon.

We love our sheds and hope you do too! :-)

Renée's story

When Renée* arrived at Cambridge Cyrenians, she was carrying an enormous amount. She had been living in a women's refuge, was managing a thyroid cancer diagnosis, and was travelling regularly into Cambridge for hospital treatment and check-ups.

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Grace's story

When Grace* lost her home, she didn't know where to turn. After a period in a Refuge Hostel Arrangement, the council referred her to Cambridge Cyrenians, and since July 2025, she has been settled in our supported accommodation, beginning what has become a journey back to herself.

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Jill's story

When Jill* lost both her parents within just two and a half years, everything changed.

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