Sherwood Pines Blog

The Nutrition and Dietetics Service from County Health Partnerships, part of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, have been working with Ollerton and District Economic Forum (ODEF), to deliver a 4 week cooking course as part of their Feel Good Foods ‘Sherwood Social Farmer’, community growing project.

ODEF, is a charitable company in Nottinghamshire working to regenerate the former coal mining community of Ollerton, and provides the community growing project at its Sherwood Pines site in Sherwood Forest.  It runs a productive community garden where people can get involved and learn how to ‘grow their own’ fruit and vegetables. 

Over a 4 week period, Community Nutrition Assistant, Viv, delivered a cook and eat session as part of the Feel Good Foods project discussing a variety of topics from eating well to reducing saturated fat, sugar and salt intake. Each week the two hour session combined a variety of nutrition education sessions with some practical cookery. The participants made a wide range of dishes which included sweet and sour chicken stir fry, butternut squash risotto, vegetable soup and pizza. 

One participant said about the course “I haven’t bought a big bar of chocolate since finding out how much sugar is in it, something which I would have done on a weekly basis.” She also reported that she has lost weight and now eats a lot healthier than she did before attending the course.

The below video clip shows a service user and what she thought about the course:

The two year community growing project, funded by money raised by HealthRegard through The Health Lottery, is aimed to inspire people from Ollerton and surrounding villages to get involved and enjoy the many benefits associated with growing their own fruit and vegetables. 

It runs two weekly work parties during the growing season on Tuesdays and Fridays between 10.30 am – 2.30 pm with further half day fun workshops running throughout the year. No gardening experience is required as staff are on hand to provide support with learning new skills.  It can help to reduce isolation and bring people together and is a great way to improve your mental and physical health and just enjoy being outdoors.  

For more information about the project and how you can get involved ring ODEF on 01623 862410 or email carol@odef.org.uk or stay connected with the project on Facebook 

The Community Nutrition Team aims to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in Nottinghamshire County and work with groups in the community to deliver key government health messages such as 5 a day and Change4life.

For more information please visit our website at: www.eatwellnotts.nhs.uk or if you know a group in Nottinghamshire who might be interested in some healthy eating workshops please call us on 01623 785183