Our sensory gardens

Sensory gardens stimulate all five of the senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. They are spaces dedicated to well-being and relaxation, designed to allow people to engage fully with nature. The sensory garden at Chestnut Tree House opened in 2023 and has become a popular space for our children, families and staff. It is somewhere to play and laugh, but also a place to find peace and comfort.

Here, Grounds Manager Nick Jones tells us how he designed the garden and gives his tips for sensory planting at home – whether you have a large garden or space for a few pots on a windowsill.

Sight

Many of us will think of the visual impact of a garden when we consider how it stimulates the senses. The colour, texture and structure of a garden all affect the way we experience of it. A successful garden will incorporate plenty of seasonal interest – for example, we’ve used Viburnum tinus which has a beautiful scent when it flowers from February to April, followed by blue-black berries. Dogwood, or cornus, is stunning in the winter when its red stems take centre stage. 

We’ve planted more cherry trees because their blossom is wonderful in the spring. Cotinus – the smoke bush – has round, dark purple leaves. Its name comes from the unusual, hazy flower plumes. They really do look like smoke. 

Different textures and contrasts add interest, so we have added a spiky plant, Mahonia japonica, away from the path and out of children’s reach. Bees absolutely love them, and they’re a good value plant because they have dramatic yellow clusters of flowers in winter and early spring followed by purple berries in the autumn. 

Grasses add movement and texture to a sensory garden and Miscanthus Morning Light (commonly known as silver grass) has long, elegant leaves year-round with beautiful pink-tinged, feathery flower heads in the autumn. Alongside that, we’ve used Festuca intense blue which, as the name suggests, provides colour as well as texture. 

The sensory garden at Chestnut Tree House is next to our accessible playground, so we have included visual cues to connect the spaces and invite children to play. There’s a wooden shelter with seating and a huge blackboard, which the Activities Team uses for storytelling sessions. Portholes are dotted around the garden, with coloured Perspex for the children and young people to peep through – when you look through the red one it feels like you’re on Mars! 

Top three plants for sight: 

• Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ (the Vivid Red dogwood) – a feast for the eyes, with bright red stems year-round, vivid red autumn colour, white flowers and blue berries.
• Betula jacquemontii (silver birch) – this popular tree gives year-round interest. The glossy, green foliage turns yellow in the autumn before falling. In winter, the sleek, white trunk and branches stand bare and elegant against a frosty background.
• Agapanthus – these show-stopping border plants boast large spherical flowerheads in beautiful shades of blue, creating a swathe of colour in summer.

Smell

Scent is so evocative and for many of us, it is instinctive to move through a garden burying our noses in flowers and foliage. Syringa ‘Madame Lemoine’ – a white lilac – has frothy blooms and a beautiful scent, while the mock orange (Philadelphus ‘Virginal’) is intensely fragrant. Choisya ternata and White Dazzler are great value, with aromatic leaves and deliciously perfumed flowers.

Here too we look for year-round interest – witch hazel, for example, brings colour and fragrance to the garden in winter. There are many plants whose foliage provides perfume, especially when you brush against it. Both Santolina chamaecyparissus and Disosma Sunset Gold are good for this.

To make the garden enjoyable for everyone, we consider how our children and families experience the world. Raised beds at different levels ensure that everyone can get up close to the plants. One of them, quite low to the ground, is planted with camomile which forms a low-growing, beautifully scented cushion for the children to enjoy sitting, rolling or lying on.

All the raised beds include plants that are fun to touch and smell, including herbs such as rosemary and lavender.

Top three plants for smell: 

• Choisya ternata – wonderfully scented, star-shaped, white flowers appear in late spring among glossy, aromatic, dark green leaves.  
• Syringa vulg. Madame Lemoine – marvellously fragrant, double white flowers in May and June alongside heart-shaped, fresh green leaves. 
• Genista spachiana (Cytisus fragrans) – yellow profuse yellow flowers are very sweetly scented. 

Hearing

Our sensory garden is designed for children – and that means providing opportunities for play as well as relaxation. There are interactive musical instruments dotted around the garden – including a giant xylophone – but the plants make their own music too. The grasses undulate in the breeze and rustle as the wind moves through them. In autumn, crisp leaves fall to the ground and crunch underfoot, while the water feature trickles gently in the background.  

The countryside around Chestnut Tree House is rich in wildlife, so the birds add to the garden’s soundtrack as well. Many of the plants are pollinator-friendly and, as gardeners, we love to hear the buzz of bees going about their business and adding to the beauty of the place. 

With a working farm next door, one of our favourite sounds comes in the spring, when the new lambs arrive. Their soft bleating is a reminder that warm weather is on the way. 

Top three plants for sound: 

• Miscanthus Morning Light – deciduous perennial grass which has long, narrow leaves with a fine white edging creating a light tuft of foliage.  The grass gently sways in the breeze, creating a rustling sound. 
• Phormiums come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The leathery, strap-like leaves clap together gently in the breeze, and become even louder when wet and windy. 
• Festuca Intense Blue – a shorter grass with beautiful foliage. Like the other grasses, it creates beautiful sighing sounds when the wind moves through it. 

Touch

The aim in a sensory garden is to incorporate plants with a variety of textures – soft plumes such as grasses contrast with the soft, furry foliage of Stachys – also known as lambs’ ears. We encourage children and their families to engage with the plants, especially in the raised beds. Plants such as rosemary are particularly inviting – it’s fun to rub the spiky leaves between your fingers to enjoy the herbal fragrance. 

At the design stage, we spent a lot of time thinking about the water feature and how our families would engage with it. Ultimately, we thought that the children would want to be able to touch the water. The fountain is low to the ground and designed to look like a bubble, with water flowing all over the surface of the sphere. There’s plenty of space around it to accommodate wheelchairs, so everyone can get up close. The fountain’s a good example of how one feature can engage several senses – sight, hearing and touch. 

Top three plants for touch: 

• Geranium Johnson Blue – this cranesbill geranium has masses of large, soft lavender-blue flowers that fade to pearl grey as they mature. Its blooms are a magnet for bees. 
• Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hameln’- a clump-forming perennial grass which produces long-lasting, soft, pinkish brush-like flowers in late summer that look like squirrels’ tails. 
• Silver sage – this is an eye-catching perennial.  It has ruffled-looking leaves covered in a fine layer of silver hairs, giving them a soft, downy cotton wool-like appearance.