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Worsley Welcome Garden

A gloriously designed space that provides the perfect start to your RHS Garden Bridgewater journey

Interesting facts...

  • Designer Tom Stuart-Smith is a landscape architect and also designer of the ‘masterplan’ for RHS Garden Bridgewater 
  • Structure The excavated soil from the creation of Moon Bridge Water has been re-used in this garden
Maze-like planting through the garden

Abstract mosaic design

From the Welcome Building, visitors can choose to stroll along Long Walk, heading into the Weston Walled Garden at various entry points, or lose themselves in the maze-like landscape of the Worsley Welcome Garden.

Designed by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith, the maze-like layout of the Worsley Welcome Garden resembles an abstract mosaic and gives the impression of a giraffe’s markings or mathematical Voronoi diagram when viewed from above.

“When you have a significant open space how do you subdivide it to create an area of horticultural interest and complexity – without the plants looking lonely or placed in lines? The style of this garden is my response to this challenge.”

Tom Stuart-Smith, Landscape Architect
Yew domes are dotted through the garden's lawn

Striking architectural planting

Thirty-one clipped beech trees resembling beehives, each standing 2m tall, deliver striking architectural planting around the garden. They are surrounded by drifts of grasses and herbaceous perennials including species that thrive in the garden’s damp soil such as Euphorbia palustris AGM, Iris sibirica, Lythrum salicaria ‘Swirl’ (purple loosestrife) and Rodgersia pinnata.

Sculptural clipped yew domes dotted on the lawn further the ‘living architecture’ within the design and elegantly unify the space.
Beech topiary and planting flow effortlessly into the garden's surroundings

Flowing transitions

Large metal portals frame unique views of the garden. A striking feature, these were first seen in an RHS Chelsea Flower Show Bridgewater Show Garden in 2019. They act as gateways, guiding visitors via beautiful borders to the Weston Walled Garden beyond.

Featuring seasonal planting including swathes of late spring bulbs and rich summer colour, each border is designed to provide a flowing transition from one area of the garden to the next and offers a wealth of inspiration to the keen gardener.

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.