Pitreavie Playgroup

Coronation Pocket Garden

Pitreavie Playgroup is a small playgroup located in Pitreavie Playing fields, Dunfermline, where sixteen children, aged between 2 years and 5 years old attend throughout the week.

A planter was built from recycled pallets so the children can enter the Keep Scotland Beautiful Pocket Garden competition. Parents and children have worked together with staff to design a garden themed around the Coronation celebration in the UK.

The children celebrated the Queen’s Jubilee in June 2022 and learnt more about the Monarch and traditions during the national period of mourning for the Queen. Everyone was very excited when the King’s helicopter landed near the Playgroup when he visited Dunfermline.

The River Thames

Lots of smiley faces

Tower bridge

In keeping with the UK theme it was decided to use red, blue and white flowering plants to represent the British flag in one section of the garden. Plants, symbols and crests that represent all four nations were also be incorporated into the design.

• Scotland: Heather, Sea Holly, Eryngium, to represent the thistle, Unicorn, Bluebells
• England: Rose, lion
• Wales: Leek, dragon
• Ireland: Shamrock represented by Trifolium Beauty, hare

The children talked about the King living in a castle and that he will travel to his Coronation in a carriage pulled by horses through the Royal Park. The King is a keen gardener, so he has a vegetable patch next to his castle.

Dunfermline has recently become a city and the Peacocks in Pittencrieff Park have freedom of the city so the children wanted to add this to the garden. We have a toy Peacock which will be in the Royal Park along with Peacock feathers from the birds in Pittencrieff Park along with a rabbit and squirrel.

The Royal Park has a herb border and which will be fed to our Playgroup rabbit, Jasmine. The Castle is represented by a log with a crown on the top and there is a gravel path that leads through the garden with the national animals dotted about. Leeks form an avenue leading through the park. Canons, made from painted bamboo cuttings from our garden and repurposed buttons, sit outside the castle and we have knights to stand guard. The crowd is made from lollypop sticks and have the children’s pictures on them.

One area of the planter is set higher than the rest and it is the King’s vegetable garden. The children will be able to harvest the plants later in the year and have them for snack. It will also include plants for Jasmine to eat.

Throughout the planter there London landmarks and features: - Big Ben with Paddington Bear on top, a telephone box, a post box and a bus crossing London Bridge which acts as a bug hotel. Recycled bottles were used to make the River Thames which is filled from our water butt and helps to water the garden. There is a flag and bunting as well as each country’s crest and the Playgroup logo put round the edges of the planter.

We would like to thank Suzi Ross, Peafowl Warden, Debi from Duloch in Bloom and local businesses and charity shops that have provided resources for use in the garden. Staff would like to thank the families who were instrumental in designing and creating our Pocket Garden. They have found the project has brought them together and they have formed a good friendship. The project has supported their wellbeing and mental health and they have felt more involved in the life of the Playgroup.

The planter is in our front garden so it benefits not only the Playgroup families but also the local community is able to enjoy our display. The children play with the props that appear in the garden and look forward to harvesting the plants.

Garden design

Creating the garden – from design to reality

Garden Video