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The LUSH Spring Prize is a joint venture between LUSH Cosmetics and Ethical Consumer and is now in its fifth prize cycle, having started in 2017. At the end of the 2023 prize cycle, the Spring Prize will have distributed more than £1 million to regenerative projects worldwide. One of the prize recipients this year is Northampton based "Sol Haven".

Northampton-based Community Interest Company Sol Haven (registered as SOL LAUG HAVENS C.I.C.) started in January 2018 in the UK, drawing on the founders’ shared passion for sustainable agriculture and personal experiences of homelessness.

Its vision is to create a blueprint for sustainable permaculture care hubs across the UK that are a showcase for rural arts and crafts while providing a sustainable local source of food.

More widely, the project seeks to explore, develop and create a practical environment that can be used to determine a better today and brighter tomorrow. By involving people who have very real needs today, it also encapsulates a genuine chance to change lives and build a community.

Sol Haven at the Lush Spring Prize Awards in Berlin, Germany

Sol Haven has regenerated disused farm buildings and gardens to create a social gathering space that hosts various groups and events that contribute to strengthening the local community.

The project’s ‘Ploughing the mind’ 12-week course has been carefully designed to help people struggling with their mental health to reconnect with community, themselves and make new friends.

Activities within the course include:

Nature and horticultural therapyMental health educationMovement meditationDrummingCooking.A mixture of activities are combined to provide support, outlets for expression and the ability to learn new skills.

"With everything we do, we have a simple aim - to help people grow - and that drives all our projects and all that takes place here at Sol Haven." - Sammuel Yisrael IEng CMgr, Sol Haven

Following the completion of the programme Sol Haven seeks to support people in a wider programme, which will continue to help people overcome the barriers to both engaging socially with others and finding work.

Northampton community project "Sol Haven" awarded Lush Spring Prize for social and environmental regeneration