Horatio’s Garden, designed by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg from Harris Bugg Studio, has been awarded the coveted Best in Show title at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023 – and it’s the first garden on Chelsea’s famous Main Avenue that has mobility needs at its heart.

The wheelchair accessible garden has been designed for Horatio’s Garden, the UK-based charity that nurtures wellbeing after spinal injury in vibrant sanctuaries in NHS spinal centres.

Wheelchair access is fundamental to the whole design process and it’s the second time the design duo has won the coveted award for a garden at the world famous flower show.

This adaptive garden puts the priorities of all those with different mobility needs at its heart, and is the antithesis of a busy, clinical hospital setting with every element being informed by the experiences of patients with spinal injuries.

‘The standard of the Show Gardens this year was extremely high,’ said Marie-Louise Agius, RHS Chair of Show Garden Judges. ‘What particularly stood out about The Horatio’s Garden was how the design had been driven by the end user, to be experienced by spinal injury patients from a bed or wheelchair. The garden is uplifting, beautiful, and considered and for someone who has had a life altering spinal injury it will provide them with a wonderful sanctuary. The brief and the garden was delivered at an exceptional level.’

In Horatio’s Garden, planting is layered to accommodate different ways of seeing, smooth, cement-free terrazzo paths are patient-friendly and environmentally-friendly with a 77 per cent reduced carbon footprint (compared to regular cement), and a garden room provides welcome relief from the busy ward.

Key features:

The water feature is designed to be interacted with at an accessible height for those in wheelchairs and beds, all whilst bringing sound and movement to the garden and encouraging wildlife. The design in this garden took inspiration from the industry that made Sheffield famous by using casts taken from historic moulds, dies and cutting blocks to form a multi-height arrangement for gently brimming water.

Layered planting allows viewing from various vantage points, reflecting how patients in beds or wheelchairs see and interact with the garden. Sensory plants include Acer beurgerianum with delicate leaf shapes that create dappled light and beautiful shapes when looking up from a bed, and Betula nigra which has a tactile bark. A colour palette of lime green, pinks, purples, bronzes, creams, pale yellows and oranges have been used for added interest.

The accessible paths were made from an entirely new cement-free, permeable terrazzo surface that is environmentally friendly – the finish comes from polished crushed waste. The wide path allows for pain-free movement and can be easily navigated by patients in beds, wheelchairs, or by those who are learning how to walk again.

A garden room, created in partnership with Mcmullan Studio, provides a cocooning, warm and welcoming space for shelter and privacy. It’s clad in tactile timber shingle and offers carefully selected ‘vignettes’ of the garden with views at different heights, and a Velux skylight for patients in beds to connect with the skyscape. Key to this garden room is artwork featuring a thousand clay fingerprints from patients, staff, volunteers, and those who have brought the garden to life, including Patron HRH Princess Eugenie of York and Appeal Ambassador, Sex Education star George Robinson.

Three stone cairns, built using Derbyshire grit stone in a traditional drystone method, were created by master stone wallers Lydia and Bert Noble, whose Yorkshire family have been building with stone for five generations. It’s symbolic of wayfinding when the path is unclear and a familiar site on the rural Yorkshire landscape.

Charlotte and Hugo from Harris Bugg Studio said: ‘It’s a really special garden for us because of the nature of the charity. Horatio’s is a charity about gardens and how they help on journeys of healing and so it feels absolutely right that it should win Best in Show.’

The garden will be relocated to the Princess Royal Spinal Cord Injuries Centre in Sheffield in 2024 and it will be eight times the size of the Chelsea show garden.

• The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023, sponsored by the Newt in Somerset, runs from 23rd – 27th May. Visit rhs.org.uk for more information and sign up to become an RHS Member for reduced rate tickets to RHS flower shows.

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Olivia Heath is the Executive Digital Editor at House Beautiful UK, covering tomorrow’s biggest interior design trends and revealing the best tips, tricks and hacks to help you decorate your home like a pro. Week by week Olivia shares the most stylish high street buys to help you get the look for less and showcases the best makeovers (who doesn’t love a before & after?), as well as the hottest and most unique properties on the market. 

Source: housebeautiful.com