The Friends of Rowntree Park always have a number of projects on the go! These range from gardening and wildlife developments, educational sessions and a range of community events and activities.

On Going Project – Gardening overview

The Friends of Rowntree Park are responsible for the maintenance of certain parts of the park’s gardens. York Council are responsible for the rest. The FRP look after:
– The Long Borders
– The two railed gardens – known as the Friends Garden and Rosemary’s Sensory Garden
-The Rose Memorial Garden/Pergola area near the footprint maze
– Pollinator Project – started 2020. This is the area at the Terry Avenue gates.
–Wildlife area – started in 2021
– The Rockery under the cafe

We also built and care for the Forest School area (story circle). We have a volunteer who cares for the rockery under the cafe, too. We also started propagate our own plants in the Lodge Garden, the area behind the cafe over the last couple of years.

You can read more about gardening areas and our plans/aims here.

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Current Projects -Older girls and Rowntree Park

In 2021 we started our project on making Rowntree Park more welcoming to teenage girls. Research shows that as girls enter their teenage years, their use of parks drops compared to boys. Therefore they are missing out on the physical and mental health benefits spending time in parks can bring. Therefore our project aims to address this and help create a welcoming and inclusive park. We have:
-carried out a range of engagement
– A new area in the park that opened in May 2024 with equipment teenage girls asked for – and we fundraised for. This space was completed in July 2026.
– Make Space Festival started in 2023 and runs in June each year so far. It even won the ‘Best Initiative to increase park use by women and girls’ by Green Flag ‘Best of the Best Awards‘ 2023-24.
If you’d like to read more about our project, you can do so here.

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Current Project – Digital Tree Trail

In 2026 we launched our new digital Tree Trail App. You can download the app to your phone and explore the trees of the park. The trail is designed to help people slow down, notice the nature around them and discover the stories hidden among the park’s trees. More information here.

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Current Project – Art in the Park

We have been running ‘Art in the Park’ annually since 2020 with a different theme each year inviting artists to submit pieces for an outdoor exhibition. Each year we ask artists to submit pieces linked to a theme and clearly represent Rowntree Park.

The displays are hosted in. the centre of the park from September to May each year. The ‘call out’ for submissions usually goes out in April each year. Keep an eye out on our blogs and social media.

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Current Project – Skate Park

Linked to the Make Space project and wider park user views, including those using the skate park, we have a small amount of funding 2026-27 to make some changes to the skatepark. These include opening up the area to make it feel less enclosed and also adding some seating nearby. The aim is to make the space feel more welcoming and create a social space for users or potential users to spend time. These changes have been made possible thanks to the Police Community Fund and also the Micklegate Ward.

Engagement continues linked to the skatepark and looking at further improvements to make the space feel welcoming and safe to a range of park users and potential skaters.

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Ongoing project – Wildlife Area

In late 2020, we achieved a grant to start a project to create our wildlife area at the back of Butcher Terrace Field and improve the beck area. Plans include the following and some parts are underway but there is more to be done!

• New wildlife pond and turning current pond into a bog garden.
• improving the walkways and bridges around the beck
• Improving habitats for wildlife in the beck area and wild area
• Wildflower areas
• Improving and caring for our orchard and adding more fruit trees.
• Benches, paths and ID signs

We have weekend volunteer sessions spring to autumn. Register on our volunteer sign up form to be kept up to date when they are and come if you can!

A big thank you to SERVPRO PLC Ltd for a donation toward our Wildlife Area 2026-27 that will help facilitate volunteer sessions and the work taking place in that area.

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On going project -Park Lodge Plans

As you may (or may not) be aware, the Park Keeper’s Lodge above the cafe has been vacant since Summer 2017 when the park keeper was made redundant due to council budget cuts. The council’s plans for a holiday flat were rejected following opposition, and we have been working on a proposal for a community-based hub since that time.

It took longer than we’d hoped, for a variety of good reasons, but we made a business proposal to the council which was accepted in March 2021 based on some terms. We achieved planning permission in 2024 (finally) BUT currently we seek funding after the funding we’d been working towards was pulled in May 2024! There is still work going on behind the scenes with regard to sorting the terms of the lease with the City of York Council solicitors and looking for around £900k funding!

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On going Projects – few more…

Wild Ones: Nature ‘hang out’ for teen girls – Our weekly sessions for girls 10-16 have run since 2022 and have proved popular. We secured funding to continue to run these until 2027 thanks to funding from a donation and also LNER Customer and Community Investment Fund.

Biodiversity studies – UoY students carry out projects on biodiversity in the park to try and track changes. Looking at things such as bats, wildflowers, soil and more!

School workshops – schools book into our workshops that are linked to the curriculum including mini beasts, plants and more! We have welcomed local schools such as Knavesmire and Scarcroft, as well as some from further away. More information on workshops is here.

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Previous Projects

Our project ‘Unravelling the evolving nature of Rowntree Park’ was our project that was part of York Trailblazers, a city wide project focused on uncovering lesser known heritage stories of Yorks past. 

Trailblazers was led by Make it York and York Civic Trust, with funding from the Lottery Heritage Grant. Trailblazers was to inspire residents to discover and celebrate the heritage stories of people who are important to local communities. Our Rowntree Park project focused on uncovering the stories of ‘people of the park’ and examine the changing use/look of park over the years.
The project included: History walks & talks, community workshops, history boards and also the creation of a tansy beetle sculpture as part of the city wide trail.

Past projects include:

Adding picnic benches to the railed gardens 2023 & 24
Craft projects – Rowntree Park Rainbows and Bees & Butterflies (2020 & 2021)
Rewilding the woods 2019-20
Basketball Court – net nets and signs 2019
Labyrinth 2020