On Saturday 4th July, we gathered at Stepney City Farm in London for The Ground We Share, a one-day WWOOF UK gathering all about land, learning, community and the many different ways people find their way into growing.
And what a day it was.
Around 40 people joined us, bringing a really lovely mix of experiences into the space. Some were just about to go WWOOFing for the first time. Some were already in the middle of their WWOOF journey. Some were hosts. Others came through different growing projects, city farms, land access groups and community organisations across London and beyond.
We even had people travel from as far as Portugal, flying in for the weekend and enjoying a sunny first visit to London too.
The idea behind the day was simple. We wanted to open up a friendly, honest conversation around one big question:
How do more people build a meaningful relationship with land when they do not own it?
It is a question that sits close to the heart of WWOOF. For many people, the route into land, food and growing does not begin with owning a field or having all the answers. It begins by showing up somewhere, meeting people, asking questions, offering a pair of hands, learning by doing and slowly finding confidence.
That spirit really carried through the day.
After people arrived, had a cup of tea and settled in, we began with our panel discussion: Learning the land without owning it. It was such a generous conversation, full of different stories, experiences and ways of thinking about access to land.
We were really lucky to be joined by Andrew Belfield from R-Urban, Rae Hippolyte from DIGS (Diversity In Green Spaces CIC), Tori Sherwin from Incredible Edible Lambeth, and Leander Frogley, a passionate WWOOFer and land volunteer.
What came through strongly was that there is no single route in. For some, WWOOFing is the first step. For others, it might be a community garden, a city farm, an allotment, a food project, a campaign, a traineeship, a paid role, or simply one conversation that makes the next step feel less far away.
A lot of the discussion also came back to how these projects begin and grow. So often, they start with people coming together around a shared need, a shared patch of land, or a shared hope for something better. Community and openness sit at the heart of that. If we want more people to feel able to build a relationship with land, then the spaces we create need to feel genuinely welcoming. That means thinking carefully about the barriers people face, who feels invited in, who feels unsure, and what we can do to make the first step feel a little less intimidating.
There was also a lovely thread around stewardship. Not land as something to own for a short while, but land as something we are asked to care for. To be stewards is to be guardians, helpers and temporary caretakers, people who learn from the land, look after it, and hopefully leave it healthier, more generous and more alive for those who come next.
It was also brilliant to have different organisations and communities in the same room. One of the loveliest parts of the day was seeing people connect across projects, swap ideas, share experiences and realise that lots of us are asking similar questions in different corners.
The panel was a real highlight, and we were so pleased to hear how much people enjoyed it. The conversation went far beyond practical growing skills. People spoke about welcome, confidence, care, responsibility, barriers, belonging and what it really means to learn from land, rather than simply work on it.
After lunch, we moved from talking about land to spending a little time with it.
Stepney City Farm had very kindly put together an activity for the group, opening up an unused section of the farm that needed clearing of wild rocket before being replanted for the months ahead. Together, people helped clear the space and plant the next generation of onions, giving the group a chance to spend a little time with the land in a practical, useful way.
Nothing grand or overcomplicated. Just people together, hands in the soil, making space for what comes next and chatting as they went.
In many ways, that little moment summed up a lot of what the day was about. Learning the land does not always arrive as a big dramatic turning point. Sometimes it looks like asking where the onions go, kneeling beside someone you have just met, making a little space in the soil and doing your best.
Later in the afternoon, we came back together for our final session and split into smaller groups to share experiences, thoughts and ideas from the day.
The aim was to give people space to answer a few simple questions together, drawing on their own journeys and the knowledge in the room. We hoped this would help people swap practical steps, hear different perspectives and leave with a clearer sense of what might be possible for them.
Because, really, there is no one right route into land. No best path. No perfect way to begin.
Everyone comes to this from a different place, with different experiences, confidence, questions and hopes. Sitting together in smaller groups felt like a lovely way to make space for that, to share what we know, learn from one another, and remember that finding your way towards land, growing and community is not something you have to do alone.
For some, that might mean booking their first WWOOF stay. For others, it might mean visiting a local growing project, volunteering at a city farm, joining a community garden, following up with someone they met on the day, or simply feeling a little more able to take part.
And that felt like one of the clearest things we left with: there are many routes into land.
You do not need to have grown up on a farm. You do not need to know all the plant names. You do not need to own land, have perfect confidence, or arrive with a five-year plan.
You can begin small.
You can begin with curiosity.
You can begin by turning up.
We are hugely grateful to everyone who came along and brought such warmth, honesty and care into the day. Thank you to our panelists, to the organisations who helped shape the conversation, to Stepney City Farm for hosting us so beautifully, and to everyone who travelled, listened, asked questions, planted onions, shared lunch, swapped stories and made the day feel so full.
The Ground We Share was created as a way to open up a conversation. What the day showed us is that this conversation is already alive, in lots of places, carried by lots of people.
WWOOFing is one route into that wider world of land, food and learning, but it sits alongside many others. Community gardens, city farms, local food projects, campaigns, growing spaces and informal conversations all have a part to play.
We left Stepney City Farm feeling grateful, encouraged and gently reminded that land access is not only about gates, maps or ownership.
It is also about welcome.
It is about relationships.
It is about care.
And sometimes, it starts with a cup of tea, a good question and a row of onions.
Find out more
If you would like to learn more about some of the organisations and projects mentioned on the day, you can find them through the links below.
R-Urban Poplar
A community-led project in Poplar exploring growing, making, repair, reuse and local resilience.
DIGS – Diversity In Green Spaces CIC
Working to make green spaces, land-based learning and outdoor opportunities more inclusive and accessible.
Right to Grow
A campaign supporting communities to access unused public land for growing food and creating greener neighbourhoods.
Incredible Edible Lambeth
A local food-growing network connecting people, gardens, community projects and growing spaces across Lambeth.
WWOOF UK
Connecting people with organic growers and land-based hosts across the UK for hands-on learning, exchange and community.
