The Friends of Mill Water School approached East Devon District Council in March 2022 to request a Small Community Grant to purchase items for their horticultural project.

A year later the £500 they received from EDDC's Small Community Grant has supported their sustainable rural enterprise project by enabling the children to learn about the environment, grow produce and take pride in planting and develop skills for independent learning.

Pupils get to sell the produce they harvest and flowers they grow to school staff and in their local East Budleigh Community shop, bringing the school and village communities closer together. In their recent annual Apple Week celebrations, cartons of apple juice were produced by apples grown by the pupils.

The money raised from the sale of their garden produce is reinvested back into the project to buy more seeds or gardening tools.