The Garden is a place where children recovering from cancer can be themselves – away from doctors, worried parents and their own fears. A place to be happy, carefree, reflective, healed, refreshed, renewed and grounded by the natural world. Just a place to be...
A safe refuge, the Nest, is reached by a fun monorail or the more reflective winding path. This represents the luxury of choice, something children with cancer do not usually have. The pool is a playful distraction along the path and can also be seen from the monorail.
The colour scheme is deep pinks and burgundy at the entrance of the Garden, from Rosa ‘Emma Bridgewater’, Allium ‘Forelock’, and Lysimachia atropurpurea ‘Beaujolais’. Splashes of white from Digitalis purpurea ‘Pam's Choice’ introduce an element of fun and carefreeness – moving into different shades of green and white in the calmer healing area of the garden, with wood ferns and moor grass (Dryopteris wallichiana and Sesleria autumnalis). The fluffy heads of Stipa tenuissima ‘Pony Tails’ create movement along the route of the monorail, mirroring the movement of the monorail journey, and soft to touch as the children travel through.
