Exhibitors
Small Gardens
Guildford College (Merrist Wood Campus)
Journey of the Senses
Designers: Janette Dollamore and Jo Ward-Ellison
Sponsor: CHASE Hospice Care for Children, Guildford
Contractor: Guildford College
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This space for teenagers is designed on behalf of Chase Children’s Hospice, a charity which provides care and support for life-limited children and their families. CHASE joined forces with Guildford College (Merrist Wood Campus) to run a competition to design a show garden to raise the charity’s profile. Designed with teenagers in mind, the garden is part meeting space, part chill-out zone - somewhere to relax, listen to music or get together with friends both in the day and evening.
Inspiration was taken from the word ‘hospice’ - a lodging for travellers, a place for travellers to rest on a journey - which in turn links with the CHASE philosophy of life as a journey. This concept is reflected through the movement of water in the garden. Floor surfaces are made from aluminium, rubber and metal grilles over water, while glass blocks, metal trellis and reflective panels feature on the walls. Water is a unifying element in the garden, falling from Perspex tubes in one corner, flowing beneath the seating area and emerging again at the opposite corner in an illuminated bubble tube. Lighting has been built into the seating and planting areas. Beanbags are used as flexible seating within the garden and a sound system allows music to be brought outside.
The planting scheme follows a black, cream and green palette of sensory plants and includes Phormium, Fatsia japonica and Zantesdeschia aethiopica. Rosemary trailing from raised planters releases scent as people walk past, while bamboo and tall grasses introduce movement and sound.