Horatio’s Garden South West was the first Horatio’s Garden and opened in 2012.
Located in the heart of the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury District Hospital, the garden serves patients from across the whole of the south of England, from the Isles of Scilly to Hastings. It was voted the Nation’s Favourite Garden in the South West category of the National Garden Scheme and The English Garden magazine’s competition.
Watch our video introduction to the South West garden
Garden designer -
Cleve West
Cleve West, seven-time RHS Gold Medal winner at the Chelsea Flower Show has been designing award-winning gardens since 1990. From contemporary urban spaces to large country estates, he creates spaces that are both engaging and restful.
He aims to combine structure with sensuality, the classic with the contemporary, invariably with an element of surprise and always with a keen sense of space, artistry and craftmanship.
Cleve was already familiar with the spinal centre as a close friend had been a patient. During the design process he consulted widely with patients, families, nurses, therapists, doctors to managers.
Cleve’s design won three Society of Garden Designers awards. He regularly revisits the garden, working with our Head Gardener to develop all aspects.
Watch our video tour of the Salisbury garden led by garden designer Cleve West
“This is what healing gardens should be like; if only they all had a similar design. It has beautiful planting that works with the scale of the building and helps to reconnect people to nature.”
— Society of Garden Designers
Key design features
- A series of low limestone walls, reflecting the form of a spine, which double as seating for families and draw the eye to the gentle hills beyond.
- An apple archway of successional English varieties espaliered for easy picking from a wheelchair, with a long rill flowing alongside so the sound of water drifts across the garden.
- Aesthetic and multi-sensory planting including grasses to catch the wind, herbs to smell and taste, along with shrubs and trees for texture and winter structure.
- Mature beech hedging donated from Cleve West’s 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden, which was awarded Best in Show.
- 23 trees including Betula nigra and Amelanchier lamarckii, the berries of which attract birds to the garden.
“To me, it’s just as important as all the physio and stuff that goes on in the hospital. To me, it’s very calming and relaxing. It lets me forget what’s going on inside and then when you go back in, you go back in with a much clearer mind. You’re in a better place to concentrate on what you have to do.”
“Thank you so much for providing us with this beautiful garden to enjoy – our little bit of heaven during a traumatic time for us all.”
Garden team
Alex Graham is our Head Gardener of Horatio's Garden South West.
Alex is supported by part-time Garden Administrator Philippa Ennew and Arts Activities Assistant Yi Lam Zheng, along with a team of volunteers, who in 2019 received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Horatio’s Garden South West on BBC Gardeners’ World with Monty Don
Thank you to our partners
Horatio’s Garden costs £150,000 to maintain per year.
Please consider donating to this garden to help us nurture lives for years to come.
Before: The Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury District Hospital
Now: Horatio’s Garden South West at The Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury District Hospital
Find us
Horatio’s Garden South West - Salisbury
The Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre
Salisbury District Hospital
Odstock Road
Salisbury
SP2 8BJ
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