What an absolute honour it is to be supporting the wonderful Hospice UK team this year, with garden media pr for their “Hospice UK Garden of Compassion”, which has been designed by award winning designer Tom Hoblyn, in what will be his final RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden.
I have never had the pleasure of working with Tom before and this has been a wonderful experience and I can’t wait to see this stunning and carefully considered design come to fruition in May, after so many months of planning.
The Hospice UK Garden of Compassion, celebrates the important role played by hospice gardens in end-of-life care across the UK.
Hospice UK is the national champion for more than 200 hospices in the UK, fighting to make sure hospice care is there for all who need it, for now and forever. It is that sense of permanence which Tom aims to capture in his innovative design.
Tom has taken inspiration for the garden from his plant hunting trips in the Mediterranean, where ancient Olive Houses are built around monumental boulders, embracing nature’s raw beauty and rooting themselves firmly in the rocky landscape.
Patients at the end of life often express a wish to enjoy the outdoors in their final days and following the show, the Hospice UK’s Garden of Compassion will be relocated to St Cuthbert’s Hospice in Durham.
While Tom’s naturalistic design may challenge a traditional notion of a hospice garden, the design has been carefully curated by Tom, who worked closely with hospice occupational therapists, to ensure accessibility for all and easy access for both a wheelchair and a hospital bed.
A wild and sensory exploration
The garden’s wide and gently sloping paths allow for a tranquil navigation through each distinct space, encouraging a deeply sensory exploration and connection. The garden offers a choice of communal and secluded spaces, providing hospice patients, their families and staff, with opportunities for gathering, quiet solitude and remembrance.
Plants never seen at RHS Chelsea before
Tom’s design offers year-round interest, showcasing specimen trees such as Arbutus andrachne – Grecian strawberry tree and Pinus pinea – stone pine, and an array of colourful and fragrant, climate-tolerant plants, including some species never seen at RHS Chelsea before. Tom has grown a selection of the specialist plants himself, some from seed he collected on his plant hunting expeditions to the Mediterranean. These include the fascinating umbellifer Malabaila aurea with its golden flowers, the wild and ethereal Delphinium peregrinum, with its soft delicate lilac blooms and the lush, matt forming legume, Trifolium boissieri.
Artisan crafted features
Striking hand-crafted garden features have been commissioned by Tom from UK artisans, using textural, reclaimed and sustainable materials, sourced from within a 50-mile radius of St Cuthbert’s Hospice in Durham.
These include a series of sculpted Roman cement free water bowls, made by Thea Thompson that provide either still reflection or the gentle sound of flowing water. The water bowls are beautifully decorated with polished Oyster shells, recycled from fisheries on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland.
A sinuous focal point is provided by five steam-bent oak benches, which meander like a stream through the length of the garden. The hugely tactile and ergonomic “together benches” are crafted by Mark Tungate from a fallen oak, which has been given new life to offer patients, their families and hospice staff, a place in which to sit and find moments of togetherness, solace, comfort and respite from the challenges they face.
Rooting the space in the landscape
The garden’s monumental boulders root the garden in the local landscape, echoing the role played by the UK’s hospices, who embed themselves so compassionately into their communities. The boulders have been sustainably sourced from Raby Castle Estate in County Durham, as has the dry-stone walling that edges the space.
Speaking about the design Tom said, “Having designed hospice gardens in the past, and having experienced the need for garden solace in the final days of a loved one’s life, I know first-hand just how valuable they are.
“What is beautiful is also hugely beneficial – for a patient’s mind, body and spirit, and of course for their family and friends as they tackle life’s most difficult journey.
“It is hugely poignant that this will be my final garden at RHS Chelsea and I am delighted that The Hospice UK Garden of Compassion will raise awareness of the vital work being done by Hospice UK, while offering visitors a space for reflection, and for celebration of the compassion and care that hospices provide.”
The Hospice UK Garden of Compassion is generously supported by Project Giving Back, which is a unique grant making charity that provides funding for gardens for good causes. Project Giving Back will fund 10 gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025.
Catherine Bosworth, Director of Income Generation and Grants at Hospice UK, said: “Gardens play such a vital role in our health and wellbeing, throughout our lives. Anyone who has benefitted from a hospice garden will know the immense, restorative power of nature for people who are approaching the end of life – and their loved ones, too.
“Above all else, hospice gardens are about people and compassion. Tom’s design captures that so beautifully. It’s a space that’s about letting people focus on living, right until the end.
“We are so grateful to Project Giving Back for this transformational opportunity. And we are so pleased, on behalf of the UK’s 200+ hospices – and indeed the many thousands of volunteer hospice gardeners – to bring the Hospice UK Garden of Compassion to RHS Chelsea in May.”
Hattie Ghaui, CEO of Project Giving Back, said: “The Hospice UK Garden of Compassion will touch the hearts of so many people at the Show in 2025 and will go on to be incredibly beneficial for the patients and their families at St Cuthbert’s Hospice in Durham. The final weeks of a loved one’s life are so important to family and friends for years to come, and having a tranquil, welcoming garden in which to enjoy those final moments is a wonderful legacy we are proud to be supporting.”
