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Patients at a Kent hospital now have a quiet retreat filled with the scent of flowers and the sound of birdsong, thanks to the opening of a new, specially designed sensory garden.
BBC Radio Kent’s Andy Garland was invited to formally open the garden, known as Edna’s Retreat, at Benenden Hospital, near Cranbrook (Thursday April 30).
Edna’s Retreat has been created thanks to a generous donation by former patient Edna Winter who wanted a place where less mobile and visually impaired people could sit and enjoy the tranquility.
The garden was designed by Benenden’s head gardener, Carol Head, who has incorporated plants to stimulate all the senses. Raised beds allow people sitting on the benches to smell the scent from plants such as lavender and thyme, while a centrepiece of silver birch trees provides a gentle rustle of wind through leaves.
Andy Garland, who opened the garden in front of a crowd of patients and staff, said: “The healing effects of being among beautiful surroundings are well documented and congratulations must go to Benenden for this garden of delights. I am sure the patients will feel better simply by spending a little time out here.”
Hospital Director Jane Abbott said: “We are very grateful to Edna for her gift to the hospital and to Carol who has worked so hard to create the garden. The patients will benefit from its calming effect, and I am sure our staff will enjoy it too when they need a quiet five minutes.”
Benenden was founded in 1907 as a TB sanitorium for postal workers but, more than a century later, it provides healthcare for Benenden Healthcare Society members, private patients and NHS patients who can elect to have surgery there through the NHS GPs’ Book and Choose scheme.
The hospital prides itself on providing high quality diagnostic, surgical and medical services. Great emphasis is placed on providing comfortable, clean and infection-free accommodation and a range of clinical services, which have led to an impressive array of industry awards.
Benenden Healthcare Society is a not for profit organisation which works for the benefit of its members, offering them medical care at 12 hospitals, including Benenden in Kent. The group had no cases at all of MRSA infection during the last monitored period, 2006 to 2008.
Picture: Carol Head, Benenden head gardener, Andy Garland of BBC Radio Kent and Edna Winter, open Edna’s Retreat, the sensory garden for patients at Benenden Hospital.
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