RHS Back to Nature Garden at RHS Wisley

After 12 months of research, development and community engagement the RHS Back to Nature Garden at RHS Wisely opened in September 2019. The garden was co-designed by Landscape Architects Andr ee Davies, Adam White and the HRH the Duchess of Cambridge whilst collaborating with the RHS and NHS England.

The trio originally designed two RHS Show Gardens under the same name at RHS Chelsea and RHS Hampton earlier in the year to help draw attention to how time in nature can make us all happier, healthier and more creative. All the show garden materials were upcycled and reused in the permanent garden at RHS Wisley.

The aim for all the garden is to reconnect families with nature and help tackle what Last Child in the Woods author, Richard Louv, has coined nature deficit disorder.

'What happens when people, particularly children spend little or no time outside in natural environments, resulting in physical and mental problems including anxiety and distraction.'

When it comes to outdoor play, there are both physical health benefits and also mental and emotional benefits for the child's well being. Physically, playing in nature and playing outdoor games gets children moving. Their hearts are pumping, their lungs are filling up and breathing deeply, their muscles are lifting and stretching. Running, jumping, climbing; playing outside will put children's bodies to the test and develop muscle strength, flexibility, and gross motor skills.

Research conducted at the University of Sydney reported that children that spend time outdoors in more natural play environments are happier, more focused, less stressed and anxious. The study concluded that children who spent more time outdoors functioned higher on a social level with healthy relationships between peers and school. Those children that spent more time on indoor activities reported feelings of loneliness and shyness.

Our engaged design process took place over 6 months and helped foster ownership with the children (watch the film) and the regular 1-2-1 meetings with the team destined to manage and maintain the garden has resulted in a strategy for evolution. It was important for all involved that they understood that this was more than a play space, that this was going to be a revolution in how all spaces will be designed and managed in the future.
The final design layout includes a bespoke treehouse linked with a walkway clad with reclaimed stag horn Oak branches, an inclusive swing, slide and three wheelchair accessible groundlevel trampolines set within am incredible edible fruit forest area of the garden. It also includes a hollow log for climbing on and crawling through (ideal for children that might have anxiety attacks, such as those suffering from Autism as are the two living willow pods), the boulder and sand stream with water pumps is made from the show garden waterfall, the badger cave tunnel burrow is made from the show garden tree house branches and huge sand pit. The seating is also bespoke and features cloud gazing seats made from locally felled trees and table and chairs carved from Cedar. The timber walkway and decking areas are made from reclaimed timber which once formed Southend Pier in Essex.
The garden is all woven together with playful planting designed for its resilience, playfulness, biodiversity and health and wellbeing benefits. We believe this project is the new 2020 benchmark for accessible and inclusive nature play space design.