Oxford News
How gardening helps not only physical but mental wellbeing
It’s a connection the charity has made since its founding almost a century ago to support the Queen’s Nursing Institute.
‘The National Garden Scheme has always been aware that health and gardening go together, which seemed to come as a surprise to everybody else in 2020,’ says Vanessa.
Lockdowns that year brought into sharp focus the importance of access to outdoor space, and the use of ‘green prescribing’ where patients are sent to gardens and other outdoor groups has become more widespread since.
The health benefit of gardening underpins much of the NGS’s work. It commissioned a King’s Fund report in 2016 on the links between gardens, gardening and health, runs an annual ‘Gardens and Health Week’, and publishes a Little Yellow Book of Gardens and Health.
Today, the charity supports not only The Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing, as it is now called, but a range of mainly health charities, including Macmillan Cancer Support, Parkinson’s UK and Marie Curie. Last year, gardens across England and Wales – Scotland has its own scheme – raised £3.5 million.
Little has changed since the original 1927 concept. A garden opens and visitors pay to look around, often with the chance to buy refreshments – the NGS is known for its cakes.
Originally, most of the gardens were inaccessible to the public and many are still private spaces, although some bigger gardens that open regularly also give over dates to the NGS.
It used to be that only larger gardens with 45 minutes of interest would be considered, but Vanessa has increased the number of smaller gardens that visitors can see.
She says a garden just needs to be well kept and have something different, a beautiful setting or a good story, and points out that access to these otherwise hidden gardens is what makes the charity special.
‘If it’s small, it’s got to be unusual or plant-filled,’ she says. ‘A lot of people want to go to a garden to look for ideas and will linger if they find them.’
Some gardens open ‘by arrangement’ rather than having a set date and these are popular with art, gardening and photography clubs.
‘The small ‘by arrangement’ gardens are also a nice opportunity for friends to go and have tea,’ says Vanessa, who has led the team of Gloucestershire volunteers for seven years – only around a dozen head office staff are paid.
Gloucestershire is usually in the top 10 counties for money raised with the best year so far in 2023 when it made almost £170,000.
In 1927, it had 28 gardens open for the NGS’s debut – Badminton, Sezincote, Stanway and Sudeley Castle still open – and today there are around 86 county gardens and more than 100 if you factor in individual gardens in village openings.
Yet, there is always room for more and the team welcomes newcomers.
‘People can be quite modest and say they are not sure their garden is good enough,’ says Vanessa ‘and then you go and it’s a lovely garden.’
For details of the National Garden Scheme visit the website www.ngs.org.uk
The National Garden Scheme’s work on gardens and health seems likely to be strengthened with the arrival of a new CEO, former GP Richard Claxton, who has taken over from George Plumptre who led the charity for 15 years.
Richard is the founder of Gardening4Health, a charity that helps healthcare professionals find therapy gardens and other schemes for their patients.
‘It started out as a map of therapy gardens that I slowly plotted and then kind of grew,’ explains Richard who worked as a GP in Tonbridge for 25 years.
‘I wanted a resource for a GP, social prescriber, practice nurse or psychiatrist to be able to access online. I also didn’t want it to be held in some private space online but freely available to potential punters, potential horticultural therapists and anyone who wanted to get involved.’
A lifelong gardener who remembers growing sweet peas with his grandfather, he turned to gardening to combat the stress of long hours as a junior doctor.
‘I very much started gardening for my own wellbeing,’ he says. ‘I liked the gentle physical exercise, the creativity, the productivity, the craft, the learning and the seasonality.’
He hopes to build on the existing drive to extend the NGS’s reach not just in terms of the type of green spaces that open – in Gloucestershire there are allotments, a hospice and prison garden – but also the diversity of visitors.
The NGS, as Richard points out, supports charities that often plug gaps in provision by the cash-strapped NHS.
‘I think of all the charities out there the National Garden Scheme is one of the pivotal charities for that shortfall.’
And he’s delighted to find a role that combines his two interests of health and gardening: ‘I don’t think there could be job out there that synergises the two strands better.’
Despite being on the outskirts of a busy town, the garden at Cheltenham’s Sue Ryder Leckhampton Court hospice is a tranquil space with long countryside views.
It’s this peace and link with nature that’s most loved by patients, their families and staff at the charity, which provides end-of -life care and support for those with life-limiting conditions.
‘Our beautiful gardens offer a peaceful sanctuary,’ says Louise Lucio, Regional Director of Healthcare Operations. ‘The outdoor space provides a calming escape from the challenges people are facing and a place for quiet reflection.’
The garden has opened for several years for the National Garden Scheme and was recently improved thanks to an NGS grant.
It enabled the hospice to bring to life plans by award-winning Gloucestershire designer Peter Dowle.
Peter had gifted the designs as a way of helping the hospice that cared for his grandmother. ‘It was an opportunity for a bit of giving back,’ he explains.
His first scheme, for the central courtyard, was funded by donations with families buying trees and plants as a way of commemorating their loved ones.
The most recent phase, funded by the grant, has seen more areas transformed, including a long bank alongside the main lawn, once part of a leisure garden when Leckhampton Court was a private house.
A north-facing part overlooked by several rooms was, Peter recalls, a ‘dingy little space when we first saw it’.
His team from Leaf Creative have added ferns, hakonechloa and Japanese maples to create a calming, green outlook.
Further along, beds in dappled shade have been planted with shrubs and perennials designed to give year-round interest. Working with existing plants, Peter has incorporated mahonia, daphne, acers and more hydrangeas.
The terrace, where the view can be best appreciated, is now softened by large Corton steel containers planted up with specimen acers, carex and Geranium Rozanne (‘Gerwat’).
For Peter, a connection with nature has always been important and it’s something he hopes those who use the garden will experience.
‘It’s very much a space for families and for individuals,’ he says, ‘and if any of the planting can bring some calm and peace then that’s a good thing.’
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© Mandy Bradshaw
Construction company Taylor Wimpey was granted the development on appeal in 2017 for up to 95 homes at Thames Farm, off Reading Road in Lower Shiplake.
It has since reduced this to 84 to provide adequate drainage because “the land is unstable and vulnerable to sinkholes”.
Taylor Wimpey said the new drainage plans will ensure there are no off-site impacts relating to surface water and this will include a basin on the western part of the site.
Members of the Thames Farm Action Group, which represents Shiplake residents, have concerns about the environmental impact of the scheme, which they say has no precedent in the UK.
The ground would have to be injected with grout and concrete to keep stable despite it sitting on top of an aquifer that supplies water to nearby towns.
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In July 2025, the planning committee of South Oxfordshire District Council voted to refuse the ground-stabilisation application despite a recommendation for approval.
Councillors cited concerns about possible impacts on the aquifer and public water supply.
The formal refusal notice stated the application “failed to demonstrate that the proposed engineering operations would not pose an unacceptable risk to the aquifer and nearby public water abstraction points”.
But now the plans have been given the go ahead by a separate planning inspector.
Despite objections from the district council the project appears to have been given the go ahead.
Freddie Van Mierlo, MP for Henley and Thame, said: “I will be working with The Thames Farm Action Group, Henley Town Council, Shiplake Parish Council and Harpsden Councils to ensure their voices are heard.”
The new report states there is a risk, but it’s “an acceptable level of risk” for the area.
The TV cook, now best known for his seafood restaurants and BBC travel series, grew up on a farm in Churchill, a small village just outside the market town of Chipping Norton.
Mr Stein later went on to study English at Oxford, further strengthening his ties to Oxfordshire alongside his upbringing in the Cotswolds.
During his time as a student, he maintained a long‑term relationship with Jill Stein, who would go on to co‑found and run the business side of his restaurant empire.
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The couple later married, remained together for many years while building their businesses, and eventually divorced after their relationship broke down.
In a recent interview with The Times, the 76-year-old revisited a near‑fatal incident in Oxford which she says has left her with permanent hearing loss.
She had moved to London while Mr Stein was at Oxford, and had arranged to meet him in Oxford for a weekend.
Ms Stein discovered that he was instead drinking at a student club and confronted him when he eventually arrived at the pub where she was waiting.
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He recalled in the book that he reacted “angrily but also very lustfully”, but remembering that night, Ms Stein told The Times: “He did nearly kill me.”
Driving fast on the Oxford bypass, Mr Stein crashed into roadworks and hit a 44‑gallon drum, sending an oil lamp through the windscreen and into her head.
Ms Stein said: “He could see that I was bleeding quite a lot and I said, ‘oh, just put me to bed. I’ll be fine.’ And he thought, even though he was drunk, ‘no, I’m not sure about this’.
“‘I think I’ll ring the ambulance’. So he rang the ambulance and, because it was a 999 call, the police came along as well, and they breathalysed him.”
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At the John Radcliffe Hospital, a brain surgeon operated on her, and during her interview with The Times, Ms Stein pointed to her left side and added: “And that’s why I can’t hear in this ear.”
Asked how long it took her to forgive him, she reflected: “I never blamed him really. I don’t know why, but I didn’t.”
Mr Stein later began a relationship with Sarah Burns, a publicist who had worked with his company, while he was still married to Jill Stein.
The affair eventually led to the end of his first marriage, and he went on to marry his second wife in 2011, with the couple now living between Australia and the UK.
The monarch, who has long‑standing ties to the Cotswolds through his Highgrove estate near Tetbury, has written a moving reflection on his late mother’s final summer at Balmoral.
In his latest remarks, Charles sets out the deep personal importance of the Scottish residence to the whole family.
The late Queen died in September 2022, prompting an outpouring of grief and tributes from around the world.
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Just a day after her death and his accession to the throne, the King addressed the nation and paid tribute to his “darling mama”.
Further reflections on his mother’s final months have now been shared in the foreword to a new book, Balmoral by Mary Miers, as reported by The Telegraph.
In the text, the King explains that Queen Elizabeth “particularly treasured her time at Balmoral”.
He goes on to note the poignant detail that “It was here, in these most beloved of surroundings, that she chose to spend her final days.”
Balmoral Castle had long been regarded as the late Queen’s favourite residence, where she traditionally spent summers with her family away from public duties.
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The King underlines the strength of the family’s attachment to the estate, writing, “Since my earliest childhood, it has held, and continues to hold, a uniquely special place in the hearts of my family and myself.”
His reflections echo those of his sister, Princess Anne, who was with Queen Elizabeth for the last 24 hours of her life – an experience she has said she felt very “fortunate” to share.
The Princess Royal accompanied her mother’s coffin from Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
She then travelled with the coffin as it was taken on to London and said in a statement at the time: “It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys.
“Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting.”
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