After consulting children and families that visit Naomi House, it was discovered that they needed more intimate, family-focussed outdoor areas where they can spend precious time together and connect with nature.  

The new garden will contain smaller gardens within it, outside each of the bedrooms, providing family members and friends the space to take a quiet moment to themselves without being overlooked, while still being a part of the wider outdoor space. 

The space will be fully accessible for wheelchairs and beds and will create more opportunities to explore, with different experiences to interact with as you journey through the garden, including a sensory play trail.  

Within the garden there will be a space for play and activities with a large canopy cover for shade from the sun and shelter from the rain. This space will act like a ‘forest school’, where activities can be brought outside in any weather. There are also interactive, sensory features within this area, including a rain simulator. Next to this there will also be picnic tables so families can eat together outside.  

There will also be a playground area with a wheelchair swing, bucket swing, accessible swing and standard metal swing. This allows the swings to be fully accessible and enables siblings to swing side by side and enjoy some fun together without being restricted by different needs and requirements. 

The garden has been designed to engage a variety of senses. From different colours, smells and sounds to different kinds of surfaces on the ground for a wheelchair user to experience, every detail has been considered for multiple needs. Height considerations have also been incorporated into the design, for example, there will be taller plants and trees for a child or young adult who may be only able to look up. 

Linda Petrons, Director of Fundraising and Communications at Greenfingers Charity said: “We are incredibly proud to be bringing this special garden to life at Naomi and Jack’s. From the very beginning, the focus has been on creating a space that works for every child and family who uses it - somewhere they can spend precious time together, make memories, have fun and simply enjoy being outdoors. 

“Every element of the design has been carefully considered, from the sensory planting and play trail to the accessible swings and private garden spaces outside the bedrooms. We want the garden to offer something for everyone, whatever their age or ability, while providing those important moments of peace and connection with nature.  

“Raising more than £250,000 to make this garden possible has been an incredible achievement by our team of intrepid supporters who completed the challenge of summiting Mount Kilimanjaro - and we are also hugely grateful to everyone who has supported Greenfingers in getting to this stage. We can’t wait to see the plans become reality and, most importantly, to see the difference this garden will make to the children, young people, families and staff at Naomi and Jack’s.” 

 Erika Lipscombe, Director of Care at Naomi and Jack’s, said: “We are so excited for the transformation of the new garden to begin. It will be amazing to have a space that removes boundaries and ‘brings the inside out’. Families can spend quality time together in a peaceful, tranquil space, making memories in nature, while also being able to join in with some wonderful activities and experiences. Nature is so beneficial for a person’s health and wellbeing, so allowing the children and families to get outdoors more while staying at our hospice is very important.  

“The garden will also enable our hard-working staff to take a quiet moment of reflection to themselves. Thank you so much to the inspiring team at Greenfingers for your incredible fundraising efforts that have made this a possibility. Watch this space to see how our garden transforms!” 

Greenfingers has fundraised over £250,000 through various fundraising events to raise funds to create the new garden, including a trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. Greenfingers has confirmed award-winning Elks-Smith Landscape and Garden Design is the Garden Designer for the project. 

To find out more about Greenfingers, visit: https://www.greenfingerscharity.org.uk/ 

To find out more about Naomi and Jack’s or to watch the garden transformation journey, visit: https://www.naomiandjacks.org.uk/