Prince Harry's charity shows garden plan

Sentebale - Hope in Vulnerability garden at Chelsea highlighted the plight of Lesotho's most vulnerable children

Sentebale, the charity founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso, created a show garden Sentebale - Hope in Vulnerability at the 2015 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The garden, designed by Matt Keightley, head designer of Maidenhead landscaping firm Rosebank, and winner of the 2014 People’s Choice Award with his Hope on the Horizon garden – aimed to raise awareness of Sentebale’s work in providing healthcare and education to Lesotho’s most vulnerable children.

Sponsored by the David Brownlow Charitable Foundation, the garden was inspired by Sentebale’s Mamohato Children’s Centre, a new facility providing residential camps for children affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and extreme poverty, which is opening in Lesotho.

The garden gave visitors a taste of Lesotho and the vibrant atmosphere of the camp, and inlcuded a rock/waterscape feature, representative of the mountainous terrain in this part of southern Africa.

HRH the Prince of Wales' Foundation for Building Community advised Sentebale on the design of the Mamohato Children’s Centre using its expertise in delivering a sustainable development that provides a marked improvement in quality of life - in this case, the lives of thousands of young people who have been stigmatised by loss of a parent, who live with disabilities and those trying to come to terms with living with HIV. The designs took on board the needs of the young residents, while reflecting the country's rich culture and magnificent natural surroundings.
 

Vibrant flavour of South Africa

Cathy Ferrier, Chief Executive of Sentebale, said: 'Matt Keightley created a truly inspirational garden that will be a representation of the experience that the children in Lesotho go through during our Mamohato camp.'

Matt Keightley said: 'I was honoured to work with Sentebale, The Prince's Foundation for Building Community and Prince Harry on this year's very special garden. It was such an inspirational project.

'2014 was my first RHS Chelsea Flower Show and to have achieved the Silver-gilt and the People’s Choice Awards for the Hope on the Horizon garden was incredible. I was thrilled to be working once again at the world-famous show and I aim to incorporate so many positives of the great work that Sentebale does in the garden design.'

Alexander Barfield, Chief Executive of the David Brownlow Charitable Foundation said: “Sentebale is an incredible charity which is changing lives for the children of Lesotho. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show was a perfect platform to represent the challenges facing these children every day of their lives and how the public can generously donate to help them, and the garden that we created did a fantastic job reflecting that work.”