A show garden created by Surrey County Council has won a silver medal at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival for showing how parking spaces can be converted into vibrant green spaces.
The honour was presented to the garden which showcases three parking space-sized areas, which will all be moved to Surrey’s streets after the festival. They are:
- The Walton parklet focuses on air quality, with plants and trees that filter pollutants while providing shade and shelter.
- The Cranleigh rain garden demonstrates sustainable drainage, using climate-resilient plants to manage stormwater and how to reduce flooding risks.
- The Guildford parklet celebrates biodiversity. It’s crafted from reclaimed materials and featuring pollinator-friendly plants, bird baths and play elements to bring people and wildlife together.
In a comparison to the three gardens, a fourth zone has an electric car parked in it, demonstrating to visitors just how much can be achieved in the same amount of space. Electric vehicles do not produce the exhaust pipe emissions that contribute to climate change and poor air quality, so are a better way to travel when you need to use a car.
Judges said it was ‘astonishingly clever’ to create a garden in such small public spaces. They said when you sit in the garden you feel cocooned in the street, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.
The garden was also highly commended with an RHS Environmental Innovation award for its commitment to sustainable garden design.
The parklets and rain garden were funded through existing placemaking schemes in the three communities where the gardens will be relocated after the festival. Additional support to create the garden came from volunteers, including local young people and community groups, and from private sponsorship.
Matt Furniss, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Economic Growth, said: “Receiving the silver medal at one of the country’s best known garden festivals is a real honour. It reflects the ambition for our towns and villages that Surrey County Council is showcasing this week.
“The show garden demonstrates how we can provide a better balance between roads and pedestrians in our town centres and provide attractive and functional areas which will encourage people to visit, stay longer and support our vital local economies.
“But they also show how local government, volunteers and the private sector can work together to design and create community spaces, offering vital training to our young people along the way. I would like to thank every person and organisation which has helped create these gardens which will be on the streets of Surrey in the coming weeks for everyone to enjoy.”
The sponsors and volunteers which have contributed time, materials and expertise to bring the vision to life are: Guildford County School, Surrey Hills, AtkinsRealis, Meristem Design, Ringway, Surrey Youth Offer Service, Littlethorpe, Kathy Plank, Milsetone, Surrey Hills National Landscape, Working in Charge, Youth Offer Development, Ash Youth Centre.
Zoe Metcalfe, Client Director, Local and Central Government at AtkinsRéalis, said: “The opportunity to co-design this exhibit with Surrey County Council provides a real opportunity to demonstrate the importance of integrating green spaces in our streets and neighbourhoods.
“Designing sustainable communities to integrate nature and climate resilient spaces is key to tackling equity of access to green space and future fit communities. The show garden demonstrates how it’s possible to take vehicle-dominated spaces transforming them into resilient and thriving places for people and nature.
“The plants have been selected and integrated with a rain garden and sustainable urban drainage, to create climate-ready street-scapes to reduce impacts from intense rainfall and heat waves. Developing an enhanced public realm for community engagement in this way has a huge positive social impact as well as supporting wildlife and promoting health and wellness.
“To be awarded in this way with a silver medal is really great testimony of the design and recognition of the importance of these values in developing thriving streets to connect people and communities for a climate-ready future by working with nature.”
Lewis Bridgman, Service Director, Ringway, said: “Ringway is incredibly proud to have received this recognition at the RHS Garden Festival, made possible through our collaborative partnership with Surrey County Council. Transforming parking bays into pockets of green not only showcases the power of thoughtful design but also reminds us that even the smallest spaces can make a big difference. It’s been a joy to involve local NESCOT students in the creation of this garden, growing skills, growing communities, and growing a healthier future together.”
For more information on the show garden, including full details of the planting, visit www.surreycc.gov.uk/gardenfestival
For details of the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, which runs from Tuesday 1 July to Sunday 6 July, visit www.rhs.org.uk/hamptoncourt
Notes for editors
Walton parklet
The Walton parklet transforms a parking space into a vibrant area with places for people to sit, relax, and connect with others. It includes 12 planters with built-in seating so people are surrounded by greenery. There is also a chess board to encourage people to come together and play. The seating area is wheelchair accessible, so anyone can sit around the table comfortably.
Hardy plants like cotoneaster, known for capturing carbon, are mixed with pollinator-friendly plants like ivy. Two feature trees, forest pansy and field maple, provide shade, and offer a cool, relaxing spot for people to rest and improve wellbeing.
This parklet was designed by Surrey County Council working with Meristem Design and Love Walton Business Improvement District (BID). Meristem Design constructed the planters and seating, including sourcing and planting the plants, and will also take down and relocate the garden to New Zealand Avenue after the show.
Cranleigh rain garden
The Cranleigh rain garden turns a parking space into a sustainable green area that helps manage rainwater and reduce flooding. In urban areas, rainwater often has nowhere to go because of all the concrete and tarmac, which can lead to flooding and pollution. Rain gardens mimic natural drainage by soaking up rainwater, filtering out pollutants, and helping it slowly return to the ground.
The garden features moisture-loving plants like sage and masterwort. Other plants, such as willow-leaved loosestrife and knotweed, can handle drier conditions once established. There’s also a birch tree that thrives in wet soil but can also cope with dry spells, adding height and shade to the garden.
This garden and the planting selection was designed by AtkinsRealis alongside Surrey County Council. Ringway and students from NESCOT helped build and will later take down the garden.
The plants will be moved to rain gardens being built in Fountain Square, Cranleigh. The wooden stepping stones will go back to the council to be used in ‘play on the way’ schemes. The wooden log seating will be recycled, and the kerbs will be returned to Ringway to use in other schemes.
Guildford parklet
The Guildford parklet uses reclaimed materials to transform a parking space into a vibrant area for birds, wildlife and people. There are planters with built-in seating providing a space for people to rest, socialise and interact with nature. A bird bath, made from an old highways sign, collects rainwater through bamboo tubes that also water the plants.
A canopy been created from a repurposed parachute to provide shade from the sun and shelter from the rain. A second canopy has been created by jasmine growing around a timber structure, creating resting spots for birds and wildlife.
Deep red masterwort, sweet-smelling star jasmine, and sky-blue blooms from geraniums bring variety and vibrancy. Coral bells add warm tones with hot pink undersides, while siberian bugloss (jack frost) shows off silver leaves with green veins. These are low maintenance, help cover the ground and attract bees and other pollinators.
The initial design of this garden was created by volunteers from the Rosamund community garden, which was developed by designers from Atkins Realis and Surrey County Council. Molly Klemova-White, alongside colleagues from Surrey County Council’s Youth Offer Team, helped to grow and advise on the planting.
The Youth Offer Team guided young people in building the benches, planters and bird bath, giving them hands-on experience.
The garden will be relocated to Phoenix Court in Guildford, allowing visitors to enjoy tranquillity amidst the bustling town centre. Experience Guildford will help to organise the maintenance of the plants.
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