Rural Skills, where people grow, connect and belong

At a beautiful garden haven in Hampshire, FitzRoy’s Rural Skills project supports people to grow more than fruit, vegetables and wildflowers.

They grow confidence, friendships, skills and pride.

What is Rural Skills?

Based in the grounds of the Sustainability Centre in East Meon, Rural Skills supports people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health needs to work outdoors, learn practical skills and be part of their local community.

Members get involved in gardening, woodwork, growing fruit and vegetables, making birdhouses, cooking with produce they have grown and looking after the environment around them.

For Clair, a FitzRoy support worker at Rural Skills, every day is different.

I love the changes in seasons, being outside and working with everybody here just because they make every day fun and there’s always something to do up here.

A good day at Rural Skills doesn’t look the same for everyone. Some people want to dig and plant. Others may want a quieter day, spending time in the garden, doing a puzzle or simply enjoying being outdoors. That flexibility is at the heart of Rural Skills.

“To be honest, I just want everybody to have a good day,” Clair says. “So even if that means if they’re not feeling like they really want to do that much work today, that’s absolutely fine.”

Building confidence through meaningful work

The team gets to know each person – what they enjoy, what helps them feel confident and what kind of support they need to succeed.

“We tend to set people up with jobs that they want to do because it is their day,” Clair says. “We want to give people things to do that we know that they can achieve, because you don’t want to give somebody a job that’s going to make them feel like they’re not capable.”

The work at Rural Skills has real purpose. Members grow fruit and vegetables in the summer, native wildflowers and build birdboxes for the nearby natural burial site.

“We sell fruit and veg in the summer, but all through the year we sell birdhouses,” Clair says. “We make them on site. 100% of the money that we make from the plants and sales actually goes back to the guys that have done all of the hard work.”

A place to belong

Tony, one of the Rural Skills members, sums up what Rural Skills means to him.

I like coming here to see everybody.

When asked what he enjoys doing, he talks about watering and keeping busy.

“I like to work,” Tony says. “I really do like it.”

Angela Murphy, FitzRoy’s Chief Executive, recently visited Rural Skills and saw the impact for herself – weeding with Mark, hearing about the plants he is growing and nurturing, and seeing the pride members take in their work. She said: “This is what good social care looks like in real life – people building skills, doing what they love, feeling proud and being part of their community.”

That is what Rural Skills is all about.

It is not only gardening. It is confidence, purpose, friendship and belonging. It is people making, growing, selling, cooking and caring for the world around them.

For Clair, it is also a place she loves being part of.

I have got the best job ever, I absolutely love my job.

At Rural Skills, people grow things and, just as importantly, people grow