The Muscular Dystrophy UK – Forest Bathing Garden which won a Gold medal and Best Show Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 has arrived at The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice in Bellahouston Park.
The garden was made possible thanks to funding from Project Giving Back, a charitable organisation that supports gardens for good causes at RHS Chelsea and, following the show, in communities around the UK. This generosity and support enabled garden designer Ula Maria to create something unique for Muscular Dystrophy UK – the leading charity for more than 110,000 people in the UK living with one of over 60 muscle wasting and weakening conditions.
Following display at the Flower Show, the garden was carefully packed up and transported more than 400 miles in five articulated lorries, kindly supplied by The Malcolm Group, to arrive at the hospice.
Explaining the significance of the garden’s relocation, Catherine Woodhead, Chief Executive at Muscular Dystrophy UK said: “It was always the intention that our garden would go to a location that would benefit those living with muscle wasting and weakening conditions, as well as the wider community. We believe this hospice is an ideal place as it provides care and support for people who have been diagnosed with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition, such as cancer, lung disease or neurological conditions like muscular dystrophy; and our charity is delighted to provide support alongside the staff there.
“We’re looking forward to seeing our Forest Bathing Garden relocated to The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice after the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The Chair of our Scottish Council, Sheonad Macfarlane, works as a doctor at the hospice so that’s a really nice link to our community. We hope the garden will provide a calm space that everyone can benefit from.”
Rhona Baillie OBE, Chief Executive at The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice said: “We’re truly delighted to provide a permanent home for the Muscular Dystrophy UK Forest Bathing Garden and know that it will make a real difference to our patients, their families, and our local communities. The whole design of The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice is focussed around bringing the ‘outdoors inside’. We believe in the therapeutic benefits of safe and accessible gardens for people and this incredible and unique garden will complement the wonderful outdoor areas we already have available.
“Our care is all about helping people to live as fully and as well as they can to the end of their lives, however long that may be – looking after their physical needs but also their emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing.
“It’s a privilege to welcome a ‘Best in Show’ garden to Glasgow and we’d like to say a huge thank you to both Muscular Dystrophy UK and the garden funders Project Giving Back for making this possible, as well as The Malcolm Group for helping to transport the garden.”
The garden will be temporarily homed within the grounds of the hospice. Further land donated by Glasgow City Council next to the hospice will be cleared to allow the planting of the special garden in the Autumn.
People can find out more about the hospice and how they can help support the charity by visiting www.ppwh.org.uk
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