The No4 Clifton Village team have been working hard to go green! Creating and maintaining our very own edible garden is one of the biggest challenges we have set ourselves, but it’s still going strong and looking good. We are all passionate about reducing No4’s carbon footprint regarding deliveries of produce and also use local suppliers when our garden does not suffice. The chefs using fresh vegetables and herbs has been both satisfying and rewarding. What with packaging creating 10 million tonnes of waste a year, our edible garden has also massively reduced the amount of packaging we use and throw away. The convenience of nipping out into the garden to prep a salad is just a bonus!

We also created a compost area in our garden which means wastage is being used to fertilise the garden and create more of what we all want and love! There’s no picture of this….as we didn’t think you’d want to see it, so you’ll have to take our word for it. We even have a bee hotel to help keep those friendly solitary bees busy and laying eggs!

The Quarter staff initially volunteered their time on what turned out to be a beautiful sunny Sunday a few months ago, to plant and create our vegetable patches and herb gardens. We are growing an array of colourful goodies in the garden, including cabbage, spring onions, carrots, red peppers, spinach, rosemary, and lettuce. Our indoor herb boxes take pride position on our window sills in the restaurant, showing all our guests and diners that we grow and look after our fresh produce and the boxes are home to mint, coriander, oregano, sage, and thyme just to name a few.

Since that sunny Sunday all the staff at No4 have done their own bit; ranging from watering to creating name plaques to finding ways of dealing with those pesky slugs. We probably currently have a third of our garden being used and once we get the opportunity I'm sure we will expand it. Unfortunately, due to circumstances such as weather conditions and it still being relatively early days, the amount we source each week can really vary, but we all make the effort to sustain and use whatever we can!

Our next big plan for ethical living is hosting an eco-friendly wedding fair, providing brides and grooms-to-be with ethical suppliers and ideas for a ‘greener’ and waste free wedding event! Keep in the loop and get in touch with us via our Facebook page if you’re interested in attending on Sunday, September 24th.

Please come join us in our growing garden whether it be for a Bath Ale in the sun or an afternoon tea with friends and we're always open to discuss and expand our knowledge of keeping it Green!

We’ve joined other Bristolian organisations and businesses and started making changes for a more sustainable future. To see more of what we're doing to help keep Bristol as one of the most sustainable cities, head over to our community page.