About us
We cultivate welcoming community spaces to grow food, boost biodiversity, reduce waste & share skills, creating a more resilient, sustainable future for Chippenham.
Everything we do is rooted in community - from growing and sharing food to caring for nature together.
Our story so far…
Rooted Chippenham was founded in 2021 by Rebecca Beach and Vanessa Davey, inspired by a shared passion for food, gardening, and improving both personal and planetary health.
The challenges exposed by the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, rising living costs, and growing eco-anxiety highlighted the need for stronger local food resilience and community action. Rooted was created to help people come together and make a positive difference close to home.
In 2020, co-founder Becky was diagnosed with breast cancer. During treatment, she became a passionate advocate for growing and sharing organic food and promoting healthier, more sustainable lifestyles. Becky sadly passed away in October 2022, but her vision continues to thrive through Rooted Chippenham.
Taking root in our community
In April 2022, with support from Wiltshire Council and the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, volunteers created our community garden. Rooted Chippenham also became a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC), led by Vanessa Davey, Andrew Harmer and Helen Barlow. Grants from Chippenham Town Council (2022) and Wessex Water (2023) also helped fund accessible growing spaces, fruit trees, a 40ft polytunnel, wildflower areas, rainwater harvesting, and a wildlife pond.
In 2025, Rooted launched Chippenham’s first community tree nursery and began a regular programme of community bat walks, all supported by local crowdfunding, match-funded by Aviva. In 2026, the team planted its first community orchard at Lords Mead with support from Chippenham Town Council and charity Freely Fruity, and has plans to open Chippenham’s first community fridge with support from charity Hubbub and the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. Ben Luger also joined the CIC board, leading the community tree nursery and programme of public bat walks.
Today, Rooted Chippenham is powered by strong community connections and a shared commitment to a greener, healthier future. We’re really proud of what we’ve achieved together - and very excited for what comes next!
In 2025 we made our biggest impact yet!
12 monthly garden meet-ups were held with 40+ residents taking part
30+ varieties of fruit and veg were grown
2,000lt of rain water was harvested for our garden
A new wildlife pond was created at our Community Garden
A new accessible raised bed was built at our Community Garden
We successfully crowdfunded to set up a Community Tree Nursery
Our new Community Tree Nursery infrastructure was established
100 trees & seeds given away at the ‘Country comes to Town’ event
Free wildflowers given away at Chippenham Market in collaboration with Baydon's Meadow group
Local nuts and seeds were gathered to grow 8 native tree species
A Halloween pumpkin decorating event for 20 children was held
Two pilot bat walks for 40 residents were successfully run
Two 'Bikes, Trees and Bees' events hosted, run by Zero Chippenham
Funding was secured for a new Community Orchard at Lords Mead
We successfully crowdfunded to buy public bat walk equipment
10 new sustainability books were donated to Chippenham library
We won an RHS award for community gardens
Get in touch
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