Goddard Consulting are delighted that Horatio’s Garden has won the coveted Best Show Garden Award and a Gold medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023. Goddard Consulting were the Principal Designers for this prestigious project, which was led by Rupert Goddard.

Sponsored by Project Giving Back, this is the eighth garden created by the Horatio’s Garden charity, which aims to nurture the wellbeing of people after spinal injury in beautiful sanctuaries at NHS spinal injury centres. Designed by six-time Gold medal winners, Harris Bugg Studio, the team worked closely with the Horatio’s Garden community, listening to patients, their loved ones, NHS staff, head gardeners and volunteers to understand the needs and aspirations of everyone spending time within the Garden.

The design uses colours, scent, natural sounds, and tactile experiences, bringing important sensory features into the garden to enhance the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of patients. A water feature, which can be touched at wheelchair height, animates the garden, and encourages wildlife, creating a vibrant sanctuary for visitors. The Garden also has a strong focus on community, incorporating influences from the Sheffield region it will transition to. Individual thumb marks in clay were gathered from patients, NHS staff, gardeners, and volunteers from all over the country. The prints hang all over the walls inside of the woodland room, a nod to the hallmarks Sheffield is famous for.

Horatio’s Garden will now move its permanent home at Sheffield’s Princess Royal Spinal Injuries Centre, where it will benefit 360 in-patients and their families every year, along with thousands of outpatients, and the 250 dedicated NHS staff who care for them.