Gardens that are good for your health
Discover the outdoor spaces that had health and wellbeing at their heart
Spend time in the great outdoors and you’re bound to notice a huge boost in your mental and physical wellbeing – whether it’s taking some time for quiet contemplation by a babbling brook, or getting active by planting a beautiful border in your garden.
Here at the RHS, we want to spread the message of how good being in nature is for your health and wellbeing. The Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival showcased a series of outdoor spaces with wellbeing at their heart, from gardens with meditation spaces to relationship-boosting community areas.
An outdoor sanctuary
Visitors walking through the RHS Sanctuary found ideas for transforming their outdoor space into a peaceful haven. Designed by former RHS Young Designer winner Ula Maria, the garden featured an enclosed area surrounded by medicinal planting.
Tucked away in the centre, the inner sanctum of the garden was a perfect spot for meditation and quiet contemplation.
Coming together as a community
The negative impacts of loneliness on our mental health and wellbeing are well documented, which is why we celebrated the benefits of coming together as a community in 2019.
Visitors walked through our brand-new feature, the Community Allotments, and discovered how to get involved with the RHS locally.
Taking a moment to pause
Visitors took a moment to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature in Dave Green’s Stop and Pause garden. Inspired by meditation, the garden was a calm and quiet space. There was a reflection pool surrounded by soft, woodland planting, and seating scattered throughout.
Going back to nature
The RHS Back to Nature Garden, co-designed by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge and Landscape Architects Andree Davies and Adam White, was unveiled at the 2019 Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.
The garden aimed to support The Duchess of Cambridge’s work to highlight how time spent in natural environments can help in building the foundations for positive physical and mental wellbeing that last through childhood and over a lifetime.
