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Be a part of the future of Dilston Physic Garden and its impact on the community
Dilston Physic Garden is a dedicated enterprise educating on the awareness of medicinal plants for health and medicine, and providing gardening and nature for the physical and mental wellbeing of the community. As a registered charity receiving no central funding we rely upon donations.
As an educational charity, our vision is to deepen public and educational engagement with the natural world, enhance awareness of biodiversity’s vital role, educate on the benefits of medicinal plants for health, medicine, and innovative drug discovery, as well as provide our 2-acre Northumberland site as a wellness space for members the North of England community.
Your donation will help us support community wellness programme and help invite audiences to learn about the often-overlooked value of edible medicinal plants and plant medicine. Medicinal plants support individual health, profoundly support disease prevention, improving the immune, respiratory, circulatory, and cardiovascular systems, while also promoting mental wellbeing and brain health. Despite its proven efficacy in treating a range of common conditions such as allergies, digestive problems, skin disorders, insomnia, anxiety, and depression, plant medicine also remains underutilised in the UK. Its holistic approach addresses the root cause of disease and those studied are often shown to be as effective as conventional drugs but carry fewer if any side effects, including addiction.
Dilston Physic Garden is dedicated to bridging the gap between plant and general medicine by highlighting the scientific evidence of plant medicine’s efficacy. Our research includes controlled trials to validate plant medicine for conditions like memory issues and insomnia, demonstrating its effectiveness compared to single-drug treatments with minimal side effects.
Learn more about our current projects below
How Your Donation Will Help
The garden currently has a number of ongoing projects that we are working to fund. Your donation, big or small, will make a difference. If you do choose to donate, thank you! And if there’ a certain project that you wish to support, please do let us know via email and we shall ensure your donation is allocated to this fund.
Our community programme of gardening for wellbeing is inspired by the many benefits we’ve seen volunteer gardening bring to people’s lives over the years. Whether you’re looking to enjoy the physical and mental benefits of working outdoors, expand your social connections in a relaxed and supportive environment, or simply want to contribute to a meaningful cause, our community gardening offers something special for everyone.
Learn more about our other current projects below.
Education is at the core of who we are as a charity. Following on from a successful pilot in schools, we are expanding our program of workshops and outreach.
Pupils get access to information and hands-on experiences with herbs and learn about the exciting subject of phytochemistry.
We are also developing educational software and creating structured, informative, material linked with schools’ PCSHE curricula.
Pupils report having access to these workshops has enormous benefits to their physical and mental wellbeing, such as increased concentration, self-nurturing, relaxation, and enjoyment in the natural world.
Our educational spaces and garden facilities are limited and are dictated by weather conditions. The classroom and WC cannot be utilised during the winter months due to lack of insulation, hot water and heating, and our outdoor community and group spaces are limited. Improvements to these facilities will allow us to better achieve our mission of education and of providing a place year-round for wellbeing for community visitors, groups, volunteers, educational visits and workshops.
Our improvement plan includes: insulating the current water supply and installing a boiler for hot water and heating in our Herbology House classroom, insulating the current WC and installing utilities to provide hot water and lighting alongside providing access, facilities and amenities for accessibility to all to the garden, WC and Herbology House classrooms.
Watering is key to growing plants well, this not only means providing the water our garden needs, but using it wisely.
To save time and labour in the often dry conditions we can experience for our bigger or more water-demanding areas we would like to install a drip irrigation system. This system is the most water-efficient way to irrigate many different plants and will ensure we keep the garden envriomentally green and blooming in the more frequent longer dry spells.
At Dilston Physic Garden, our roots are deeply embedded in scientific research. Our mission is to inspire, educate and carry out research , helping to bridge the gap between the wisdom of traditional plant medicine and the rigor of modern mainstream medicine. While we honour and incorporate alternative approaches, it is science that forms the foundation of our teachings and guides our, and the medical profession’s, exploration of plant medicine.
Our educational programmes are designed to empower individuals with evidence-based knowledge, ensuring that every step taken in the garden is one supported by research. With funding we can undertake more scientific research trials to widen the knowledge base and understanding of plant medicine—one that is both respected by tradition and validated by science. Read more on our scientific research here.
Support Our Current Projects
Write `I Confirm` below to confirm that you are a UK tax payer and wish Dilston Physic Garden to claim Gift Aid on all donations you have made in the last four years and any future donations you make.
What is Gift Aid?
Gift Aid is a scheme run by the government that enables charities to increase the value of donations made by reclaiming basic rate tax that has been paid on the gift. At the moment, we can claim 25p per £1 donated, so on a gift of £100, we will actually receive an extra £25, at no cost to the donor, which we then use to fund Dilston Physic Garden’s work.
To qualify for Gift Aid, you need to be a UK taxpayer and have paid enough tax to cover the amount of tax reclaimed by all charities on all your donations for each tax year (6th April one year to 5th April the next).
In order for Dilston Physic Garden to be able to claim Gift Aid on your donations, we need to have a valid Gift Aid Declaration from you. You can complete a Gift Aid declaration online, this is an automated form which you can complete at ‘check out’ each time you make a donation.