VE Day Celebration Garden

The garden celebrates the 75th anniversary of VE Day. It is inspired by the allied airborne invasion of Arnhem to secure the bridge of that city.

Representing formal British and Dutch styles, the garden is a celebration of spring colour. Pleached trees and hedges frame the garden. It features a central pathway of Dutch-style paviors, four plinths mounted with Royal Delft vases and a water feature to symbolise the River Rhine and the canals of the Netherlands.

The planting focuses on spring colours and features bulbs, a poignant reference to the Hongerwinter, the Dutch famine of 1944–45, which residents survived by eating tulip bulbs. The colour scheme incorporates orange to represent the Netherlands, white for peace and clarets and blue hues to represent the Pegasus flag of the Parachute Regiment.