The Healing Power of Gardens

"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden."  

Frances Hodgson Burnett ('The Secret Garden')

 

I recently enjoyed visiting the garden of Lady Arabella Lennox-Boyd, at Gresgath Hall in Caton, Lancashire. 

 

Despite the showery weather, I found the garden an absolute joy and a place where it was easy to lose oneself, be calm, still and completely in the moment. 

 

There were terraces, a lake, a small bog garden, a wild garden, extensive kitchen garden, a bluebell wood, the millennium wood, the rhododendron hillside, herbaceous borders, and a serpentine walk. There were many different plants, shrubs and trees, including ferns, acers, lilacs, azaleas and magnolias. 

 

The gardens are situated in a valley carved over time by Artle Beck, a tributary of the River Lune.

 

Listen here to the sound of the beck. 

 

Click here to read what Monty Don has to say about the healing power of gardens.

Writing prompts:

• Listen again to the water flowing and this time close your eyes and imagine you are there. See the garden in your mind's eye and describe it in your writing, using all your senses, and explaining how you feel.
• Write about your own experience of how gardens can heal.
  

Don't forget to click on the hyperlinks. 

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