Horatio's Garden Northern Ireland - Belfast

We’ll be working with Belfast Health & Social Care Trust to bring Horatio’s Garden Northern Ireland to The Spinal Cord Injuries Unit (SCIU) which is located in the Withers Building at Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast. It has a total of 15 beds and serves patients from across the entirety of Northern Ireland, therefore the garden will be a vital sanctuary for people who are facing long stays in hospital far from home. 

Each Horatio’s Garden is designed to be a home away from home, offering patients, their loved ones and NHS staff a beautiful haven of calm, where they can enjoy the sights and sounds of nature all year round. The garden at the SCIU will be there to help patients, their families and their friends as they adjust to living with life-changing injuries, giving people somewhere to quietly think and reflect, as well as providing people with a stunning natural environment that people can enjoy spending time in together. 

Each of our gardens is cared for by a brilliant team of volunteers, who are led by a Head Gardener at each location. They nurture the gardens, offer warmth and kindness to everyone (as well as plenty of tea and homemade cake!) and support the therapeutic activities run by the charity. These include gardening, art, live music performances, seasonal events and artists’ residencies, which are all designed to support people’s physical and psychological wellbeing, whilst complementing the clinical care provided by the spinal centre’s staff. 

The SCIU is run by a dedicated team of NHS staff, including nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists and consultants. In addition to helping patients and their loved ones, Horatio’s Garden also gives staff somewhere they can retreat to on their breaks whenever they wish to have a little respite from the ward.

The garden will be brought to life by leading garden designer Andy Sturgeon, who you can read more about below.

Andy plans to begin developing his concept designs for the garden in the summer of 2021, meaning the capital appeal for Horatio’s Garden Northern Ireland will likely be officially launched around January 2022. Whilst this is still many months away, it’s exciting to be able to set our sights on this powerful new project that will transform people’s lives for many years to come.

We will continue to update this page with more information about our exciting new project and look forward to sharing all the news of Horatio’s Garden Northern Ireland with you over the coming months.

To support the appeal for Horatio’s Garden Northern Ireland, please donate by clicking the button in the top right hand corner of this page. Alternatively you can donate by post to the registered office address: 2 Throope Down Office, Blandford Road, Coombe Bissett, Salisbury, SP5 4LN, or phone 01722 326834 to donate by credit card.

If you feel you could help us with fundraising, or would like to volunteer, please contact us by emailing info@horatiosgarden.org.uk, or ring 01722 326834.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our seventh Horatio’s Garden so far.