Abundance London gardens win biodiversity awards

The residents of Meon Road digging over the Meon Garden

Abundance London wins three awards in the Ealing Bodiversity Awards for Gardens and Green Spaces Competition 2026

Abundance London, the Chiswick based environmental campaign group, has won multiple awards in the Ealing Biodiversity Awards for Gardens and Green Spaces Competition 2026.

Abundance London looks after nearly 40 ‘pocket parks’ across the Boroughs of Hounslow and Ealing, with most in the Chiswick area. They entered three gardens for consideration, and all three won prizes.

“The acknowledgement by Cultivating Ealing (formerly Ealing in Bloom) is a very welcome honour”, says director Karen Liebreich.

“The support of Ealing Parks and Ealing Housing team and councillors is a very important element in our success”.

Beaconsfield Gardens 

She adds:

“With nature under extreme stress everywhere, these small urban pockets of biodiversity provide essential oases for nature. And by caring for them the Abundance volunteers show that they care about their neighbourhood.

“Flytipping and destruction become unacceptable and rare, local friendships are made, and a sense of civic pride and co-operation is fostered.

“In this world with its grim news, these signs of optimism and hope are increasingly important.

“While our three award-winning gardens take the spotlight today, all our gardens are fantastic, all our volunteers are magnificent! Especially in this heat and drought…”

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Abundance London gets its name from its initial project, which was to organise groups of fruit pickers, including local school children, to harvest surplus fruit in people’s gardens.

“Our fruit-picking team is currently working at full stretch”, says Karen, “with several hundred kilograms of apples and plums collected over the last fortnight and distributed to various food banks”.

The three gardens which received accolades in this year’s Ealing Bodiversity Awards for Gardens and Green Spaces Competition are: Plane Tree Garden (aka Southfield Road/Acton Lane); Meon Garden on the corner of Meon Road and Acton Lane; and Beaconsfield Gardens, at the Chiswick end of Acton Lane.

Barney doing his D of E award, now with a new award for his mantlepiece

Plane Tree Garden – Commended

Plane Tree Garden is a small green space just south of the railway bridge on Acton Lane, dominated by large plane trees.

In 2024 Barney Kynoch, with his parents as obedient under-gardeners and another neighbour helping, began to clear what was essentially a fly-tipped wasteland, as part of Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Since then it has become a shady island of biodiversity.

Beaconsfield Gardens in spring

Beaconsfield Gardens – Highly Commended

Beaconsfield Gardens is the largest of Abundance London’s spaces, and the inspiration for several of the other gardens, says Karen.

Described as a “neglected grassy verge” along Acton Lane before they started work on it, this is now a flourishing small park, “a vision in spring, a haven of biodiversity throughout the year.

“Instead of flytipping, builders’ skips and unmentionable activity, we now have flourishing trees, wildflower greenery with a meandering path, bee columns, a stumpery and a genuine pride and sense of community.

“Inspired leadership from Jen Thorndycraft who in addition to being the volunteer Head Gardener for this space, also works as Head of Community Projects for Abundance”.

Meon Garden – Very Highly Commended

Meon Garden – Photograph Karen Liebreich

Meon Garden was started last year under the leadership of Ian Pritchard on the corner of Meon Road and Acton Lane.

Half the street residents turned out to transform a nasty flytipped corner, a centre for anti-social behaviour, into a welcoming garden.

Abundance London will be celebrating all aspects of its work on Saturday 5 September at the annual Big Apple Day outside Chiswick Library.

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