Home to over 13,000 people, West London’s White City Estate is in the 10% most deprived areas in the UK, with high levels of overcrowding and unemployment. Within the estate, Phoenix Farm is a one-acre green haven.
Home to two glasshouses, a series of beds, an orchard, soft fruits and wildlife areas, at Phoenix Farm the community come together to produce 40 varieties of fruit and vegetables, medicinal herbs and edible flowers, and tend to beehives, rabbits and chickens.
I have been volunteering at Phoenix Farm for two years, and for my mental health, it has been a game-changer.
Now, White City is undergoing major redevelopment, with the expansion of Westfield shopping centre, and White City Place becoming a hub for PR and media agencies. Meanwhile, the lease on the farm is up for sale.
In the UK, loneliness, social isolation and mental health are firmly on the political agenda. Yet the community assets essential to tackling these issues, assets like Phoenix Farm, are being sold off.
In 2019, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported that in the UK, councils have sold 12,000 public spaces since 2014-15. Since 2010, 1,000 children’s centres (Sutton Trust, 2018) and 41% of day centres for vulnerable adults (Roberton, 2018) have closed. London has seen a 44% cut in youth services (City Hall, 2018).
The future of our farm is uncertain.
Our Green Acre explores why this space is important to the wellbeing of our community and what would be lost were it to disappear.
Our Green Acre was selected to exhibit at London’s Photo Scratch and was exhibited as part of Open Garden Squares and Hammersmith and Fulham Art’s Festival.
"Phoenix Farm is a hidden gem in the heart of the White City Estate. This exciting exhibition features documentary photographer Lydia Shellien Walker's portraits of volunteers at the farm. A White City local and Phoenix Farm volunteer herself, Shellien Walker's works display a deeply rooted and powerful connection to the beautiful setting in which they were taken. Phoenix Farm will be open on the 8 and 9 June as part of Open Garden Squares." - Hammersmith and Fulham Arts Festival.