Stockist Spotlight: Helmsley Walled Garden – Where Craft and Community Bloom
We are honoured to have stocked Frafra baskets in our Garden Shop for almost one year. All Frafra baskets are handwoven in Ghana, practicing traditional skills and techniques, using sustainable Veta Vera grass. Their mission is to ”provide high-quality woven products, bringing about meaningful change for every weaver and ensuring weaving continues for generations to come”. They are passionate about maintaining fair wages and improving working facilities by building indoor weaving and training spaces, along with providing wheelchairs and adapted working spaces for older weavers.
We adore Frafra’s woven products, and our visitors do too! Stylish and colourful, they are the perfect addition to your summer accessories, blending functionality with purpose. Each piece embodies an organisation that places people and community at the heart of its values.
Frafra’s Uk Managing Director, Olivia Peterson, has kindly chosen to feature Helmsley Walled Garden in her most recent Stockist Spotlight blog on the Frafra website (Journal).
Over to Olivia…
Stockist Spotlight: Helmsley Walled Garden – Where Craft and Community Bloom
Every month, we shine a light on one of our wonderful stockists – the shops and spaces that help bring Frafra’s baskets to life in new homes, gardens, and hands. With summer in full swing and everything in bloom, it felt only right to celebrate Helmsley Walled Garden: a peaceful, purpose-filled place tucked beneath the ruins of Helmsley Castle in North Yorkshire.
We’re so happy to be part of this joyful space. Their gift shop is rooted in community and care, filled with handmade goods that reflect the rhythm of the garden outside, a perfect home for our baskets.
A Garden with Heart
Helmsley Walled Garden is more than just beautiful, though it’s certainly that too. Originally built in 1759 as a kitchen garden, it was brought back to life in the 1990s and is now a vibrant space where plants, people, and possibilities grow side by side.
It’s a place of therapeutic horticulture, where volunteers of all ages and abilities find connection, calm, and purpose through working with nature. That spirit of inclusion and care runs through everything they do. There is no surprise they were awarded The King’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2024, a huge and well-deserved honour!
A Shop Full of Thoughtful Things
Their gift shop is curated with the same thought and heart as the garden, featuring small-batch crafts, natural wellness products, gardening books, and locally made treats. The selection changes with the seasons, reflecting the ever-evolving garden outside.
It’s the kind of place where everything feels like it has a story. This makes it an ideal home for our baskets. Like the garden, our pieces are made slowly, by hand, and rooted in tradition.
A Place to Slow Down
There’s something special about wandering through the garden paths, stopping for a slice of cake in the café, or browsing the shop for a gift that feels just right. Helmsley Walled Garden offers more than a lovely afternoon out. It’s a living, growing space where craft, nature, and community come together.
From willow-weaving workshops to open-air events, from heritage planting to eco-conscious growing practices, Helmsley invites people in to learn, connect, and feel good about how they spend their time – and what they take home with them.
Frafra’s baskets at Helmsley
We’re proud to see our handwoven baskets alongside so many other thoughtful, beautiful things in their shop. Each one is made by artisan weavers in Northern Ghana using traditional techniques and natural materials – crafted with care, just like everything at Helmsley.
Whether you’re picking herbs in your garden, heading to the farmer’s market, or just looking for a special piece with meaning. Our baskets are made to be used and loved for years to come.
Planning a Visit?
Here’s what you’ll find:
A garden full of colour, calm, and seasonal beauty
A shop with handmade gifts, garden tools, books, and more
A café serving seasonal lunches, cakes, and countryside views
Workshops and garden trails to enjoy at your own pace
Visit Helmsley Walled Garden
Cleveland Way, Helmsley, North Yorkshire YO62 5AH
Open Wednesday–Sunday, March–December (last entry 4 pm)
helmsleywalledgarden.org.uk
By Olivia Peterson, Frafra Baskets
Aug 4, 2025
@frafra_baskets @helmsleywalledgarden
FrafraBaskets #HelmsleyWalledGarden #NotJustAPrettyGarden #Volunteers #RHSPartnerGarden
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