RHS Chelsea and Hospitalfield Arts Garden
This is a great week for gardeners because it is one of the few weeks when there is wall to wall television coverage of gardens on the BBC! It is the RHS Chelsea flower show and with over 400 exhibitors and 31 show gardens this year, there is plenty to cover.
On the podcast I also wanted to make an episode about RHS Chelsea but I wanted to do it by focusing down on just one story. I have been lucky enough to visit Arbroath in Scotland and I really hope you enjoy listening to this episode. I have met some inspiring people, Lucy Byatt the director of a charity called Hospitalfield and Rachel David, a teacher at Ladyloan primary school and the award winning garden designer Nigel Dunnett. The garden linking them has been funded by Project Giving Back who have been giving charitable organisations in the UK the chance to exhibit a show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, to promote their cause while supporting the horticultural industry for the past 4 years.
Rachel David
So please take a journey to Scotland. I think this sand dune garden, inspired by the landscape just over the wall from Hospitalfield Garden, on the East coast of Scotland, speaks to the themes that have come up before in Our Plant Stories. Our challenge to find ways to inspire and encourage the next generation in their love of nature.
The Hospitalfield Gardens
The first row of photographs of Hospitalfield, show the garden before during and after Nigel Dunnett’s design, the brief from Director, Julia Byatt, to cover 800 years of history! Left to right, they were taken in October 2019, September 2020 and August 2022, by Joanne Evans who volunteered at the first planting in 2020.
The middle row of photographs I took in May 2025 when I visited Hospitalfield in Arbroath.
The bottom row are Nigel Dunnett’s RHS Chelsea sand garden for Hospitalfield Arts with its artist’s bothy. The bothy and the garden will be packed onto lorries after the show and it will head to Scotland to the playground at Ladyloan primary school.
What happens next?
The plants when they arrive at the primary school will be put in the existing polytunnel which has already been cleared ready for its new inhabitants. Then over the summer months the sand structures will be built ready for the planting which Rachel hopes will involve the whole community. I am sure she will send us photographs and we look forward to hearing how the children are enjoying their new garden.
Remember Hospitalfield is a charity so I am sure that if you are inspired by their story and the work they are doing they would welcome your donations. The food in the cafe at Hospitalfield is delicious so you can also help by spreading the word, so other people discover this magical place.