The gardens of the King Edward V11 Hospital are an early 20th century example of a therapeutic garden and are of considerable historic interest in their own right, a fact recognised by their listing on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens.

They were designed by the famous garden designer Gertrude Jekyll in the early 1900s, working closely with the architects of the hospital Percy Adams and Charles Holden to allow the integration between architecture and garden that one sees today. The combination of the Adams-designed Sanatorium and the Jekyll-designed landscape enhances the gardens’ significance, as their unity encapsulates many of the aspirations of the Edwardian era.

The former sanatorium is to be redeveloped as a residential community, and the LUC team have created a design proposal for the gardens to complement this new development. Our proposed restoration will see the gardens restored in a manner appropriate to 21st century living for the benefit of the site’s new residential occupants.

The gardens were one of Jekyll’s most ambitions and complex projects. She produced 40 planting drawings for both the formal gardens to the south and the main driveway to the north, where the planting merged into the natural vegetation. Since the setting out of the original design over 100 years ago, some of the Jekyll gardens have succumbed to the need for new buildings, extensions and car parking, but the gardens to the south of the hospital remain remarkably intact.

LUC will draw up detailed planting plans based on the original drawings to restore the initial intention of the planting which in many areas has become impoverished. We also intend to restore large areas of the gardens which have been ‘lost’ for decades below car parks and hospital outbuildings.

This is an exciting project for the LUC team on a challenging but very rewarding site. The gardens are a nationally important heritage asset and a unique example of Jekyll’s belief in the benevolence of plants and their benefits to patients. In their restored form they will continue to deliver these benefits for both residents and visitors.

We are delighted to be working for City & Country Group on this prestigious commission and look forward to giving the currently unoccupied site a new and vibrant future as a residential community.

See the King Edward VII community consultation website here