Horatio’s Garden: our Charity of the Year 2025
Horatio’s Garden has been chosen as Ashwood’s Charity of the Year 2025.
Horatio’s Garden is a UK-based charity that creates beautiful, accessible gardens within the heart of NHS spinal injury centres. The charity is dedicated to enhancing the lives of individuals with spinal cord injuries.
It aims to nurture the well-being of people affected by spinal injuries by providing tranquil and inspiring gardens for healing, reflection and rehabilitation in all 11 spinal injury centres across the UK. These gardens serve as a vital sanctuary for patients, their families and hospital staff, offering a peaceful space away from a clinical environment.
The gardens:
There are now 7 gardens at spinal units across the UK with another one in Sheffield started in 2024. Each garden is meticulously designed by leading award-winning garden designers to ensure accessibility gardens.
Their garden designers have included Joe Swift, James Alexander-Sinclair, Bunny Guiness, Andy Sturgeon, Cleve West, Sarah Price, Tom Stuart-Smith, Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg, all of whom still work closely with the charity’s garden teams to ensure that the gardens remain beautiful sanctuaries as well as providing spaces for horticultural therapy.
Our Charity of the Year partnership with Horatio’s Garden Midlands:
Our Charity of the Year is supporting Horatio’s Garden Midlands, designed by Bunny Guinness and opened in 2019 at the Midland Centre for Spinal Injuries in the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry. It serves a wide catchment across North Wales, Mid-Wales, South Mersey, Cheshire and the West Midlands.
With wrap-around views from the ward, the garden incorporates beautiful planting schemes, glasshouse and garden therapy areas, open social spaces, quiet sheltered areas, a serpentine rill and a garden room.
Our Charity fund-raising will help with the running costs of this inspirational garden.
How will Ashwood raise money?
The Ashwood Charitable Trust supports our Charity of the Year, its main fundraising for this coming from John’s Garden Open Days . We are also fortunate to receive a number of individual private donations from our generous customers and friends and we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who supports our charity in any way, no matter how small.
More information:
Horatio’s Garden (registered Charity Number: 1151475/SC045386)
Website: www.horatiosgarden.org.uk