Shed On Wheels

In 2008, artist, ecologist and activist Anne Marie Culhane started working in Efford to explore gap sites, forage foods and share recipes with the local residents. Many projects took place that explored the landscape and skills of the local community over the years. Over time, the community stared to feel pride about what Efford had and wanted to create more work around the aspects of growing and eating together.

The community got ambitious. They bought an apple press to make juice for themselves they could sell in a local market. They made jams and chutneys too. They planted apple orchards in Efford Valley and they harvested and pruned and cared for them. They had a community allotment too, so that schools and community members could grow and learn together.

In 2011, the community was asked the question: “If you could share what we have learned here in Efford with the rest of Plymouth, what would you need to do that?” And the answer was: “Well, we would have to have a shed!” And the concept of the Shed On Wheels was born.

Working with Anne Marie and Encounters Arts Director Ruth Ben-Tovim, the Efford community created a brief for a mobile shed. It had to be environmentally sustainable, quirky, use recycled materials and have all the things that make growing and eating together so wonderful - a kitchen, some sofas, tables and chairs, a place to share seeds, a map of local green spaces to talk about and places to share artwork.

Rufus Maurice and Belle Benfield were commissioned to take on the design and they worked with the community in sessions at the local library to gather ideas around what people wanted to see from the Shed On Wheels. An important factor became reuse and recycling of material- much of the Shed On Wheels was built from recycled and found materials and was built ‘off-grid’ in Cornwall. Members of the Efford community were invited to help with the build and enjoyed spending a day in a very different environment from their community doing this.

Once the Shed was built and brought to Efford Take A Part began to find projects and opportunities to take the Shed out both within the local area and to other communities in the city. Partnerships with Stepping Stones to Nature and Allways Apples saw the Shed On Wheels making some of its first journeys and connections with other people in the city. Events such as ‘Love Parks Week’, harvesting, tree planting and juice pressings saw the Shed popping up in communities such as Whitleigh, Barne Barton and Stonehouse. Food, growing and cooking were the main focus but the Shed was also used for consultation, thought gathering and feed into community projects. There were also more creative interventions like sharing stories of green spaces, leaf rubbing and landscape painting.

The word was out, and as the Shed was seen more frequently its quirky appearance and ability to draw a crowd meant more requests for it to attend other creative events in the city. Whilst retaining its original remit Take A Part got creative using the SOW at events like Union Street Party and Plymouth Art Weekender to act as a pop-up gallery and workshop venue. It even acted as a concert venue for Take A Part’s Green Orchestra project in collaboration with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Whilst working in greenspaces, growing, harvesting, cooking and eating together remain important engagement tools for Take A Part, as our work has developed the Shed has been used most often for bespoke activity. Additionally, a vintage 1970’s milk float only has a certain lifespan for travel and use in this way.

In 2018 Poole Farm, a unique farm site in the centre of Plymouth which had been storing the Shed, approached Take A Part about taking it on as an asset. They wanted to park the Shed up and create a bespoke interactive kitchen and classroom space for food prep and cookery connected to home grown produce.

This new use for the Shed made a perfect next step and great piece of legacy from its original conception following Grow Efford.