THE Barrow-based Art Gene group is preparing for its first workshop since the lockdown period began in March.

Organisers from the collective, which is now in its fifth year, are welcoming back the Allotment Soup initiative for the first time since the early spring.

With newly-appointed Ecological Designer Dr Vincent Wals, the Furness arts group says its first workshop will focus on creating a 'Hugel Mound' - derived from a German term ('hügelkultur', meaning 'hill culture') for what is effectively a raised bed, filled with rotten wood and materials that would otherwise go to waste to create a highly fertile soil.

Dr Wals is currently enjoying a yearlong residency with Allotment Soup and is understood to be focusing on ecological design.

The (socially-distanced) event will take place at the Isle of Walney Community Growing Space on Mill Lane.

It will run between 10am and 4pm this Saturday, August 1.