Horticultural Therapy

Helmsley Walled Garden - Horticultural Therapy

The primary charitable aim of the garden is to provide horticultural therapy and a tranquil, healing environment for anyone to benefit from. Restoring the garden, attracting visitors and selling plants enables us to generate our own income, i.e. Social Enterprise.

Many of our staff/volunteers live with mental, physical or terminal illness and we all work together in an open and supportive environment. The charity was established by the late Alison Ticehurst who was a nurse and she surrounded the garden with “staff” and supporters who had a natural empathy for working with disadvantaged people.

The benefits of gardening are widely recognised as beneficial to most people and we have a dedicated/trained member of staff who works part-time to teach students from Welburn Hall Special Needs School, who have “their own patch”. During any year we have several placements from local schools and colleges and we participate in RYEBEP and NYBEP schemes. Ryedale/North Yorkshire Business Education Partnership schemes are usually 2 weeks work experience but we have had several non-academic school students who have benefited hugely from one or two days per week at the garden.

In 2010 there are 2 new opportunities for people at Helmsley Walled Garden;

1) Next Steps is starting a drop-in session at the garden on Tuesday afternoons between 1.30pm and 3.30pm.

The session will be an informal group session which can mean either helping out with the gardening or just coming along for a chat.

Please contact Mike on 01653 690854 or Rebecca on 01439 771427 for more information. The first session is held at the garden on April 13th.

 2) We have just received notification of a grant which will enable us to take the garden further in our provision of Horticultural Therapy. We have put together a programme of  horticultural activities for anyone with physical or learning difficulties or mental health problems, which will be provided by a trained Horticultural Therapist. The programmes of teaching will be seasonal and will take account of clients’ abilities and differing needs.It will be developmental, provide individual learning plans, and although not accredited will culminate in a statement of achievement. The emphasis is very much on the building of confidence and self esteem; to provide motivation and encourage self-reliance.

The training will be available on Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout May to September and will be offered free of charge initially to give organisations and their clients an opportunity to sample the course. We are currently contacting care providers to advertise the course. If you or someone you know is interested please call Rebecca Williams, Garden Manager at Helmsley Walled Garden to discuss details.  

We have a “Bothy” available at the garden. This is basic single and twin room accommodation. This room is available for rent to walkers or other holidaymakers coming to Helmsley and can also be used for volunteers, students and special needs students to stay with a carer for short periods of work experience or working holidays. For further information please contact us or complete the form below.

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