Since I began working with Greenfingers charity recently, I have been overwhelmed by the FIFTY THREE gardens they have created across the UK! Considering that each garden build can cost up to £100,000, it shows that your donations have really made a difference.
Greenfingers is dedicated to supporting the children who spend time in hospices around the UK by creating inspiring gardens for them to benefit from, and relax in. The range of beautiful, well-designed outdoor spaces are for children to enjoy with family, friends and siblings. Despite creating 53 gardens in children’s hospices around the country, there is still much work to do, with a waiting list of hospices that need help.
If you find the stories of the hospices inspiring and want to help, why not consider donating a few pennies on my new JustGiving page. Simply click here. Thank you so much, and watch out for the exciting ways I’ll be raising for Greenfingers in the near future!
Here are 5 of the most beneficial and eye-catching gardens created by Greenfingers:
Keech Hospice, Luton.
The brand new ‘hub’ garden at Keech Hospice has been designed by Chelsea Gold Medal designer Adam Frost. This all-weather garden, with artificial grass for all-year round play, has been transformed from a ‘bland, featureless space’ to a central hive of activity. Small trees frame a therapeutic, stone water feature that is surrounded by a colourful play area, with circular patterns spiralling across the ground.
The 300 or more children spending time in the hospice, and their families, can easily enjoy the benefits of being outside in the fresh air thanks to the seating and shade pergola. The garden can also be enjoyed from inside the hospice thanks to large glass windows overlooking the newly revamped space.
Helen and Douglas House, Oxford.
Designed by Nicola Wakefield (KLC School of Design competition winner) and made by Infinite Playgrounds, this all-encompassing space has been designed specifically so that hospice patients in beds and wheelchairs can have all year round sheltered access to nature.
The unique outdoor environment is flooded with a myriad of hues from the specially commissioned structure made from wood and multi-coloured polycarbonate panels created especially for Greenfingers.
Chestnut Tree House, Brighton & Hove.
Described by The Telegraph as ‘the hospice garden that changes young lives’, the Woodland Walk Garden at Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice has given seriously ill children a truly magical outdoor space to enjoy.
This once unusable piece of land is now a stunning woodland area with looping paths and circular decks. Children and their families enter the space through enchanting ‘moon gates’ and can discover a bug zone, stick walk and teepee. Families can spend precious time together at the natural pond with viewing space, or create memories in the picnic area with special benches to accommodate children in wheel chairs.
Little Haven Children’s Hospice, Benfleet.
Green fingers helped to create a wonderful ‘Grow Your Own’ garden at this hospice in Essex. Our focus was to create an engaging and fun outdoor space that would encourage children spending time in the hospice to interact with the natural world.
The team worked with local company Eden Horticultural to transform a vacant patch of land into an abundant and lush fruit and vegetable garden where children spending time in the hospice could get involved in growing and harvesting crops.
Earl Mountbatten Hospice, Isle of Wight
This garden was relocated and recreated from the Royal Bank of Canada’s 2015 RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden, and is one of a kind. Planted with cool coloured perennials kindly donated by Hillier. The garden offers a tranquil space for life-limited children and their families to enjoy. Pops of colour from drought-tolerant plants perfect for exposed coastal areas were also planted.
Alan Titchmarsh officially opened this very special garden and said “this is no ordinary garden, as it adds a new dimension to the work of Earl Mountbatten Hospice, and has a lot of jobs to do. It helps to provide stimulation, respite and relaxation for all the patients, visiting families and the staff who, I know, will all appreciate a new place of peace and solace at difficult times.”
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