RHS Adventure Within Garden

The garden aims to encourage adventure, exploration, and curiosity through two different zones, both with contrasting scales and atmospheres.
 
In the first, a wending path guides through luscious and leafy planting, designed to encourage curiosity and a feeling of enclosure. The route leads to an intimate, hidden destination with an engaging feature.
 
The second zone unfolds out onto a wider area, designed in contrast to the first. Here the garden is liberating and open. The colourful planting akin to a stylised meadow. Within this space, there is the opportunity to walk above the planting and along a boardwalk, offering a unique perspective.

Objects found in the garden gently play with our sense of scale, encouraging a shift in perceptions of the surrounding environment. Familiar materials present themselves in new and unusual ways – challenging our concept of the norm.
 

At a glance:

Who is this garden for? 
An experimental concept garden for show visitors.
Where is the garden set?  
Hampton Court Palace.
Who or what is the design inspiration?
The variety of different feelings a garden can enable and encourage, in a relatively small space.

This is a garden to experience from within. Travelling through the space creates a sense of release from the serious lives we live as adults and reconnects to the lost playfulness of childhood.

Key sustainability points

• Renewable materials such as thatch and timber are introduced to demonstrate their relevance in modern building techniques.
• 'Timber reclaimed from the banks of the river thames, and old deconstructed English docks and piers is reused in the garden from Ashwells Timber, demonstrating the beauty and durability of reclaimed and natural materials.
• All hard landscaping is designed to reduce the carbon footprint of the garden. A permeable gravel pathway runs throughout the garden, this is designed to be low impact, yet tolerate a large amount of pedestrian traffic over the course of the show.
• Two thirds of the garden is planted. This is a space for people, and for nature to exist together. Plants are located in suitable locations based on access to light and water.