Show Garden: Over the Wall Garden: Sponsored by Takeda UK

With 1 in 10 children1 in the UK living with a serious illness and 100,000 children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, the garden aims to take visitors on a journey, asking them to step over the wall to discover a world of new possibilities. 

The circular garden invites visitors to literally step ‘over the wall’ and enter an uplifting, joyful space where a winding path leads to a sunrise opening which symbolises new possibilities. On the way visitors pass vivid planting which references the colours of Over The Wall’s Brilliance Beads (awarded to children who attend their camps) – orange for support, green for courage, purple for fun, yellow for positivity, pink for creativity and blue for teamwork – and elements of Japanese aesthetic representing Takeda’s Japanese heritage.

Linking to this, the garden will be unveiled to the uplifting beats of Japanese drummers, at the press opening on Monday 4th July, whilst a Calligrapher is on hand to capture inspirational messages during the festival on Thursday and Saturday.

The garden has been designed by Matthew Childs Design, an award-winning garden design studio with a diverse range of exciting landscapes both in the UK and internationally. Matthew commented, “our studio believes in the power of gardens to have huge benefits for mental and physical wellbeing and the starting point for all our projects is the ethos that ‘Gardens are for people’ coined by landscape architect Thomas Church.

With the needs, aspirations, and enjoyment of people at the heart of our landscape designs we have seen first-hand how people then protect, nurture and maintain that landscape. We’ve been inspired by the children and families supported by Over The Wall and Takeda, and hope the garden helps bring awareness, and champions their voices.”