Designing & Creating a Sensory Garden:

A Sensory Garden for all Hollingsworth Lake Country Park

DK Garden Design was recently commissioned to design the new sensory gardens at Hollingsworth Lake Country Park in Rochdale in the North West UK. In this article we demonstrate how to create your own sensory garden following the same principles and guidelines we used in our approach to the designs for the garden.

Design birds eye view of plan visuals for the Hollingsworth Lake Sensory Garden

An Introduction To Designing A Sensory Garden:

In today's fast-paced and digital world, finding moments of tranquillity and connection with nature has become more important than ever. One enchanting way to escape the chaos and awaken your senses is by creating a sensory garden. We were recently commissioned by Rochdale Borough Council to design a sensory garden for the newly built ranger’s offices. A sensory garden is a carefully designed space which sets out to stimulate and engage all five senses, allowing individuals to experience nature in a unique and immersive way. In this article, we will explore the steps to create your own sensory garden and delve into the numerous benefits it offers for both physical and mental well-being.

 

Step 1: Planning and Design

To begin creating your sensory garden, careful planning, and design in creating the successful sensory garden. Consideration should be given to sunlight exposure (site aspect) soil quality, and the plants that will thrive in your climate. Divide your garden into distinct zones, each dedicated to stimulating a particular sense. This will ensure a diverse and balanced sensory experience.

Step 2: Engaging the Senses

Sight: Incorporating a variety of colours, shapes, and textures through different plants, flowers, and foliage as well as elements such as water features, sculptures, or wind chimes will help to when designing the perfect sensory space.

 Design visual shows streamers on flag poles create movement and sound at the entranceway to the gardens.

Sound: Include features that create soothing sounds, like wind rustling through leaves, trickling water, or the gentle hum of bees. Adding bird feeders or wind instruments as well as insect hotels and wildlife habitat will all help to ensure a successfully designed garden. Here's how we achieved this in another of our projects with this stepped water feature for an extensive landscape design project in Alderley Edge in East Cheshire.

Smell: Choose fragrant plants, such as lavender, jasmine, or roses, to infuse the air with scent. Whilst adding aromatic herbs like mint, thyme, and basil for a refreshing warm scent.

Touch: Incorporate plants with a variety of textures, such as soft grass, velvety petals think plants like Stachys byzantina, which is also great for bees, whilst a bark chip path adds to the sensory elements of walking through the garden. Include touchable elements like stone pathways, wooden benches, or ornamental grasses that sway with the breeze.

Taste: Grow edible plants, like herbs, fruits, and vegetables, in dedicated areas of your sensory garden. Engage visitors by encouraging them to taste and explore the diverse flavours nature has to offer. In our designs we set aside an area of raised beds for growing edibles.

Step 3: Accessibility and Safety

Part of our brief was to ensure the designs for the sensory garden is accessible to people of all abilities. To achieve this we designed in wide, paved pathways for wheelchair access as well as specifying non-slip materials. Consider adding raised garden beds or vertical planters for easier reach. It is also important to choose plants that are non-toxic and safe for visitors, especially children and pets. The raised beds in our sensory garden were also designed to be disabled friendly by raising them on stilts making it easy for wheelchair users to access all parts of the growing areas in the raised beds.

 Design visual of veg garden with raised beds on plinths making easily accessible for wheelchair users. 

The Benefits of Designing a Sensory Garden:

Here’s a few of the benefits you can expect from your sensory garden.

Stress Relief: it really would be impossible to overstate the value of a sensory garden. In fact, so convinced are we at DK garden Design of their benefits that we could probably call most of our garden design projects sensory garden to a great extent as most include the elements of a sensory garden. But don’t just take our word for it as many studies have shown that engaging with nature is a great way to reduce stress and promote relaxation. The soothing sights, sounds, and scents of a sensory garden create a tranquil environment, offering respite from the demands of daily life, and let’s face it in today’s busy world we all need a break from the hectic space of contemporary life.

Cognitive Stimulation: Sensory gardens provide a wealth of stimuli that can improve cognitive function. The various textures, colours, and scents stimulate the brain, promoting mental agility, creativity, and memory.

Therapeutic Value: For individuals with sensory processing disorders or mental health conditions, sensory gardens can serve as therapeutic spaces. The calming and grounding effects of nature can alleviate anxiety, depression, and sensory sensitivities.

Physical Exercise: Gardening itself is a physical activity that offers a range of health benefits. From bending and stretching to digging and planting, tending to a sensory garden promotes physical fitness and mobility.

The main purpose of our brief for the Hollingsworth Lake Country Park sensory garden was to promote community engagement with the garden layouts and areas designed as inclusive spaces that bring people together. Thereby creating an opportunity for community members to connect, learn, and appreciate nature collectively.

To Summarise:

Creating a sensory garden allows you to create a truly immersive experience that engages all your senses. From the visually stunning array of colours to the tranquil sounds, invigorating scents, and diverse textures, a sensory garden offers a pathway to relaxation, mental well-being, and connection with the natural world. If after reading all this you are finding the prospect of designing and creating your own sensory garden all a little too daunting why not get in contact using the online form on our website and lets see if we can help make that dream a reality.