RNIB Talking Books Garden

The garden

Books hold a special place in our hearts – a quiet magic that ignites our imagination and creates vivid worlds with unforgettable characters. RNIB’s free Talking Books service gives thousands of people with sight loss access to a huge range of fiction and non-fiction, from much-loved classics to educational texts.

The garden takes inspiration from the libraries of our imagination. The Talking Books Garden has sinuous curved shingle walls with ladders reaching skywards, an interpretive nod to the libraries of old.  

The planting

Plants will be highly textural, to reference sound and the Talking Books scheme.

Key plants: Betula and Miscanthus will be used for their sound effects. Salix as a decorative and environmentally resilient plant.

Plants supplied by: Bernhards Nurseries

Sustainability notes

Environmentally sensitive use of hard landscaping, resilient planting design to cope with increased climatic extremes, innovative, peat-free growing mediums. The garden will be concrete-free and use recycled materials.

About the designer – Paul Hervey-Brookes

Paul is a well‑respected designer known for landscapes and gardens that use planting to create rich, multi‑layered habitats. Trained at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, he is described as arty, creative and possessing immense plant knowledge, with an ability to read landscapes and evoke strong emotions.

He works on public and private gardens in the UK and internationally, including Thailand, Russia, the United States and Israel, and has created seven Chelsea Flower Show gardens, winning Gold in 2013, 2018 and 2019.

Paul created major show gardens at the inaugural RHS Chatsworth and RHS Wentworth Woodhouse, winning Gold, Best in Show and Best Construction. He is the only designer invited to the Gardening World Cup in Japan four times, winning Gold each time.

He holds 17 Gold Medals (10 RHS), is an RHS Gardens Judge, and has worked with Marks & Spencer. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Quarrying and received recognition in Korea in 2021. Paul writes for magazines and presents Gardens of The World on Viking.TV.

About the sponsor - RNIB

RNIB sees sponsoring a garden at the show as a way of raising awareness and celebrating the history of the RNIB Talking Books service, as well as creating a discussion about the impact of gifts left in Wills.

2026 marks the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Talking Books service by the National Institute of the Blind, as RNIB was then known. To mark this momentous anniversary, RNIB commissioned a new audiobook version of the Jane Austen classic Pride and Prejudice with a number of famous voices.

The garden legacy

After the show, some of the plants will be relocated to Tapping House, a local hospice based in Norfolk.