Greenfingers Charity is celebrating a summer of completed garden projects, successful show garden relocations and the flourishing of existing hospice gardens - as work begins on its biggest 2026 project at Naomi and Jack’s in Sutton Scotney.
Greenfingers Charity is heading into a busy autumn following a summer of significant progress across its programme of therapeutic gardens for children’s hospices and other care settings.
Despite challenging growing conditions, with searing sunshine and limited rainfall, Greenfingers’ teams and supporters have continued to create, maintain and nurture special outdoor spaces designed to bring comfort, connection and joy to children and families spending time in hospices across the UK.
Among the latest projects to reach completion is the extension to the Greenfingers woodland walk at Haven House Children’s Hospice in Woodford Green, alongside the finishing touches to a new memorial garden there.
A striking Corten steel Memory Tree, beautifully created by Caltef Designs, now forms the centrepiece of the memorial space. Over time, engraved leaves will be added to the tree, each telling a story of love and remembrance and creating a lasting legacy for families and the wider hospice community.
Award-winning garden finds a permanent home
Greenfingers is also celebrating this week, the successful relocation of the multi-award-winning ‘Lifted by Birds’ Garden, originally created for RHS Malvern, to the James Hopkins Trust in Gloucestershire.
Designed by Tom Saunders, Amie Wheeldon and Jon Pilling, the sustainable, nature-nurturing garden was created with wildlife in mind and will now provide an outdoor sanctuary for the whole hospice community, with the official opening planned for October.
Tom Saunders said:
“A garden designed to nurture wildlife – in particular birds – will now nurture humans in their moments of most need. A refuge for all.”
One year on – 2025 gardens are flourishing
At Chestnut Tree House, The Kitchen Garden is thriving and producing an abundance of seasonal fruit and vegetables for the whole hospice community to enjoy.
It is almost a year since this garden and The Together Gardenat Bluebell Wood Children’s hospice in Sheffield were officially opened, with the latter having been relocated from the RHS Wentworth Woodhouse show.
Originally designed by Jo Charlton and Phil Hirst, the garden has been carefully reimagined for its new setting, where over the past year it’s really grown and flourished, providing a peaceful space for children and families during some of the most difficult circumstances.
We’re delighted that Jo Charlton and Phil Hirst have also taken on a new role as Greenfingers Garden Ambassadors for this special garden at Bluebell Wood.
Major new garden project gets underway
The focus now turns to Sutton Scotney, where Greenfingers has just begin construction of its biggest garden project of 2026 at Naomi and Jack’s, with construction expected to take around 12 weeks.
Designed by acclaimed garden designer Helen Elks-Smith, the ambitious project will transform a vast outdoor area into a series of interconnected spaces, carefully designed to meet the needs of the children, families and community who will use it.
The design incorporates private gardens immediately outside each bedroom, winding accessible pathways, shared green spaces and shady areas, alongside sensory and musical play features designed to encourage interaction, exploration and joy.
The project, for which our team of intrepid Kilimanjaro Trekkers raised vital funds, will be one of the highlights of Greenfingers’ 2026 programme, and the charity will be sharing regular updates as the garden takes shape over the coming months.
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Notes to editors
Greenfingers Charity creates inspiring, therapeutic gardens in children’s hospices and other care settings across the UK, transforming often neglected outdoor spaces into thriving, nature-filled places where children and families can find joy, comfort, connection and precious moments together.
For further information, photography or interview opportunities, please contact Linda Petrons, Director of Communications and Fundraising at: Linda@greenfingerscharity.org.uk
Follow Greenfingers on Instagram and Facebook (@greenfingerscharity) and LinkedIn (GREENFINGERS) for all the charity’s latest updates.
