Walkden Medical Centre in Manchester is a hub for community nurses and Northern Care Alliance staff, with a gym onsite for cardiac rehabilitation and physiotherapy. The once underutilised grassed area outside the clinic has been developed into a wellbeing garden, to create more hands-on garden experiences for the local community.

Claire Drury, RHS Community Development Officer, says:

“The new garden is a great place for hard-working NHS staff to chill out, socialise and enjoy nature. We’ll be running workshops to help everyone get the best out of the space.”

Designed by garden designer Dave Green, the new garden is multifunctional, and created for staff as well as patients. It features curved seating set into grassy mounds, where teams can socialise or enjoy some peace and quiet. There is also a looped pathway, which can be used for outdoor physiotherapy sessions. Patients will be able to walk around it to regain strength, while using small weights and resistance bands in a therapeutic outdoor setting. The range of perennials, trees and grasses chosen means that the garden will have year-round interest, as well as attracting bees and other wildlife.

Delivery Team volunteer, NHS Property Services, says:

“It’s nice to get everyone involved. People open up more when they’re gardening together.”

The garden was built by civil engineering contractor William Pye. 12 volunteers from the NHS Property Services Delivery team helped plant it up, with flowers including anemones, hellebores and viburnum. One volunteer commented that, “the weather’s been miserable, but we’ve still had a great laugh planting up the garden!” The plants in the garden are low maintenance, to fit in with the NHS workers’ busy schedules. They are also tolerant of wet soil, to take into account Manchester’s rainy climate.

Lauren Ridgard, Estates Delivery Partner, NHS Property Services, says:

“We’ve transformed what was a huge empty green area into this amazing garden that can be used by our customers, patients and also my team.”

Birdwatching and herbal tea

The RHS Community Outreach team will run monthly workshops in the new space. These will comprise different seasonal activities such as birdwatching, solstice sun prints and making herbal tea. There will also be mindfulness workshops, focussing on the ‘Take Notice’ part of the New Economics Foundation’s Five Ways to Wellbeing.

The Walkden Medical Centre Wellbeing Garden is one of six gardens being built around England in collaboration with NHS Property Services. Service users have been involved with the designs to ensure the gardens address each site’s individual needs.

Funded by NHS Property Services as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programme, the gardens aim to improve the biodiversity of community-based healthcare centres, while also creating outdoor spaces suitable for green social prescribing and other therapeutic treatment. This programme is funded separately from funding used for frontline care.

If you would like to fund future NHS gardens for wellbeing, make a donation today.