Wooden Spoon legacy garden to feature at Hampton Court Garden Festival
A charity garden will be unveiled at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival before benefitting hundreds of students at a local special school.
Exciting plans to create the Wooden Spoon sensory garden are taking shape ahead of the renowned national garden show, which starts on Monday 4th July.
After taking pride of place at Hampton Court, a £13,000 grant from Wooden Spoon Kent will enable the garden to be moved to Broomhill Bank School in Kent, within their existing forest school.
Sarah Webb, chief executive of Wooden Spoon, said: “We are delighted to be working with some renowned designers on this fantastic legacy project.
“We all know how therapeutic a sensory garden can be and we look forward to seeing the students of Broomhill Bank School enjoying the outside space for years to come.”
Steve Ackerley, executive headteacher at the school, said: “The garden will be used to provide timetabled space for sensory activities and to support our students with neurodiverse views of the world.
“A team of students will be responsible for the garden maintenance and it will provide additional opportunities for our students to develop their skills and love for gardening and the outdoors.”
The Wooden Spoon Garden will take its place in the show’s ‘Get Started’ garden category, which aims to inspire new gardeners by showcasing simple, low cost and achievable ideas using safe and reliable plants that are affordable and easy to look after.
It will be designed by Toni Bowater and Lucy Welsh who both spoke of their excitement about the project.
Toni said: “Having seen first hand the vast amounts of materials that go straight into landfill after a show, we felt that it is our social responsibility to ensure that our garden should have a permanent home by way of a donation to a worthy cause.”
Explaining the concept of the garden, Lucy added: “The garden will feature a private sunken area with a wood retaining wall which will provide seating. It will be surrounded by a mass of easy, every day plants creating a sensory calming retreat.
“A trellis screen made from wooden spoons will highlight the charity and provide privacy while a bird care zone will also feature wooden spoons as bird perches with a water feature bird bath for a soothing effect.”
The children’s charity of rugby, Wooden Spoon funds life-changing projects that support children and young people with disabilities or living in disadvantage.
