Stunning award-winning garden to move to Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children

The Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow is soon to have its very own gold medal winning RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden in the hospital grounds.

The Elsewhere Garden, which earlier this year won the coveted gold medal at the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower show, will now relocate to its permanent home in Glasgow.

Scottish based charity Teapot Trust worked with Scottish-Swiss design studio, Semple Begg to create a fantasy garden that represents a child’s imagination as it blossoms in response to the freedom gifted by art therapy. The garden mirrors the escape children discover through art to find coping strategies to deal with life.

Teapot Trust is a charity that provides mental health support through art therapy to children, young people and their families living with chronic (painful and long term) conditions.

The garden has been gifted to the Royal Hospital for Children to create an inclusive safe space, away from the clinical environment, to help overcome barriers to accessing healthcare. It will be used for outdoor art therapy and all patients and visitors will be welcome.

The process of replanting the garden in the hospital grounds is now underway.

Sarah Randell, Chief Executive of Teapot Trust said: “We’re absolutely delighted to provide a garden that will be a permanent, visible home for art therapy, away from the clinical environment, at Royal Hospital for Children Glasgow. It’s also an inclusive safe space for everyone.

“We’re hugely grateful to our talented garden designers, Semple Begg, who have adapted the garden for Glasgow, incorporating joyful year-round colour. We hope young patients will benefit from it for years to come.”

One in four children and young people in the UK live with the pain and stigma of chronic health conditions that cause anxiety and depression. Almost a third of those aged under 21 who take their own lives have a long-term chronic illness.

The charity’s art therapy gives children and young people a release from the burdens of chronic (painful, long term) illness allowing them to take some control, to express and process their feelings about their diagnosis, their treatment regime, and the impact of their condition on daily life.

Prof Tom Steele, Director of Estates and Facilities for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “The value of greenspace for mental and physical health, and as an aid to recovery, is well known, and the Elsewhere Garden will be an important space for our young patients and their families to get away from the pressures of their treatment and relax.

“We would like to thank Teapot Trust and Semple Begg for bringing this garden to the Royal Hospital for Children, and we look forward to its completion.”