Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2005: About the Garden

When we set about designing the show garden for CHASE hospice care for children we took our inspiration from the work done by the organisation and from their underlying philosophy. The result was The Journey of the Senses Garden .

Hospice: lodging for travellers, a place for travellers to rest on a journey

Designed with teenagers in mind, a journey into this garden finds a space of contrasts that has plenty to stimulate the senses both in terms of planting and hard landscaping materials but also provides a place to relax and escape.

Travelling through the garden you come into contact with different textures, sounds and visual effects: metallic flooring contrasts with rubber surfaces, glass blocks with metal grilles, rendered walls with reflective panels, and you cross water travelling on its own journey through the space. Planting superimposes more forms: sword-leaved Phormiums are underplanted with soft, tactile Stachys, a tall, rustling bamboo jostles with broad-leaved, glossy Fatsia japonica, and curved leaves of Hostas contrast with the grassy upright forms of Miscanthus.

At the centre is an enclosed place to chill out and spend time with friends - moveable beanbags provide flexible seating and an electricity supply allows music to be brought outside. A giant bubble tube and subtle lighting, which emphasizes the forms of the planting, extends the use of the garden into the evening.

Planting throughout is predominantly evergreen – shades of green with creamy white, silver and black – and chosen for its foliage, form and texture.

Smart, contemporary and fun, the garden can also be enjoyed by adults and aims to explore the possibilities of using materials which are still infrequently used in domestic gardens.

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