With our garden of wellbeing at Stratford-upon-Avon hospital needing to be relocated, we started work on a new garden area to provide a peaceful and healing environment for patients and NHS staff to help improve wellbeing. Other aims were to build the biodiversity of the area and create a green space to be enjoyed by the local community.

We recently officially opened the garden to all of the above beneficiaries during an open day which consisted of garden tours, refreshments and music.

With sustainability at the forefront of our garden creations, we recycled the wooden sleepers and metal brackets from the previous garden to create planters along a derelict area of the hospital and provide a green and colourful walk way to the garden which also provides a benched seating area.

The garden itself also includes seating areas on both patios we created and two large wooden gazebos which we erected (with BAM Construct UK and their team of apprentices) to offer spaces to relax either in full sun or shade, depending on your preference.

Brick raised beds were created to fill with pollinator friendly plants and add a sensory element to the space and living walls were installed to add greenery and colour to vertical structures.

Local companies joined us to create bug and bee hotel which we installed along the fence and we created other wildlife habitats in the form of bird boxes which have since been occupied by different species of birds.

Thanks to Cemex UK we created a disabled access pathway leading into the garden to ensure that everyone can enjoy its beauty and benefits, making it inclusive for all.

We installed a picket fence around the garden to aesthetically define the boundaries and gates to provide welcoming entrance points. We also planted trees to create hedgerow along the edges of the garden to keep garden privacy.

The installation of the 54 square metre Polytunnel at the back of the garden was thanks to ValeFresco and their volunteers and has given us the perfect space to propagate plants and vegetables for the garden and has provided a great learning area for our Green Therapy group .

The recycled sleepers were also used to created raised beds in order to grow our own vegetables for the hospital café and the local community as part of our Harvest Share project where we donate all of the produce we have sown and grown during the season.

Garden furniture was sourced to prevent it going to landfill and refurbished where tables and chairs were fixed, sanded and painted, ready to be repurposed in the garden.

Maintaining the garden will serve as a therapeutic activity for our Green Therapy group, allowing them to engage in gardening and find joy in nurturing plants.

We thank everyone who was involved in the creation of the garden and appreciate all of the support in helping to bring into being such a beautiful place of purpose.