Four Seasons Garden

Summary

The “Four Seasons” Garden at St. Mary’s Hospital, Newport, Isle of Wight has been designed and created as a safe, empathetic and dedicated site for any person with dementia to visit whilst at St. Mary’s. The garden has been created by a multi-disciplinary team of island based artists working in partnership with the specialist nurse led dementia team at St. Mary’s and the 3rd sector voluntary and community organisations supporting those persons living with dementia at their homes. Under the guidance of Healing Arts this team has created an outdoor space as a Garden and occupational resource, responding to the seasons, and incorporating artworks designed to specifically respond to the senses as experienced and altered for those with dementia. The Garden is a space, retrieved form the dominant surrounding clinical environment of medicalised care, where persons can experience fresh air – warm and cool, sunlight, bird song, sky and clouds, flowers and plants, insects and butterflies, brightly coloured mosaics with detailed images of the flora and fauna of spring, summer, autumn and winter, hand made glass as sculpture, hand drawn images as window transfers, making conversation with relatives and friends, reading aloud, poetry, writing, music; a place where a sense of calm and tranquillity and a space to reflect and re-orientate can be found and flourish.